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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






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MEMOIR 



OF THE 



Rev. S. J. M. Eaton, D. D., 

Pastor for a third of a century of the Presbyterian Church of Frank- 
lin, Pennsylvania. 




By REV. A. H: CAUGHEY, Ph. D 



ERIE, PA.: 

Dispatch Publishing Company, Limited. 

1890. 






&«$> 



Copyright, 1890, 
By Mrs. Clara T. H. Eaton. 



PREFACE. 



When a man who has touched in many and impor- 
tant points, and largely influenced in many ways, the 
community to which he belonged, is removed from his 
pl&ce by the hand of death, it seems fitting that the 
facts and elements that served to mould his life and 
character should be gathered together, both as a me- 
morial to the man himself, and as a record of value 
for the training and education of those who shall come 
after him. The more pure and noble the character of 
such a man, and the more prominent and beneficent 
his influence, the more valuable will be the record of 
his life. 

The centre of Dr. S. J. M. Eaton's influence was 
Franklin, Pennsylvania ; but it was felt to a greater 
or less extent throughout Western Pennsylvania, and 
more particularly in the region included in the Pres- 
bytery of Erie ; but it radiated with diminished 
power into all parts of the State, and was felt in the 
movements and work of the church at large. 

His life and character as a minister of the Gospel 
and what he accomplished for the good of the world 
and the advancement of Christ's Kingdom, are con- 
ceived to be worthy of study. With this view the 
following sketch, concluding with the record of the 
Funeral and Memorial Services at his home in Frank- 
lin, and the Memorial observances in the Chautauqua 



IV. 
Assembly and at the meeting of the Presbytery of Erie 
at Cambridgeboro, has been prepared, and is laid, with 
much diffidence on the part of the writer, before the 
friends and admirers of the modest, earnest, God- 
fearing man who is its subject. 

By the use made of his letters and journals (extracts 
from which are usually distinguished by marginal 
quotation marks), Dr. Eaton is allowed to tell, so far as 
practicable, his own story. The reminiscences and 
thoughts of his intimate friends have also been laid un- 
der contribution, and all available means used to present 
this beloved and greatly lamented man, both as citi- 
zen, writer, and preacher of the Gospel, in a just and 
clear light before the minds of his friends and contem- 
poraries. 

Thanks are tendered to all who assisted in this labor 
of love by their contributions to the record of his life 
and labors, or by their addresses on the occasion of the 
memorial services that followed his lamented death; as 
well as to the many friends who, in the hour of afflic- 
tion, did what they could, by their letters of sympathy, 
to alleviate the sorrow of her who for nearly forty 
years had been his chief earthly stay and helper, and 
who remains the chief mourner beside his empty 
chair. 

A. H. C. 

Erie, July 10, 1890. 



CONTENTS. 



I. MEMOIR. 

CHAPTER 

I. EARLY TIMES. 1 

II. HOME AND SCHOOL DAYS. 15 

III. COLLEGE LIFE. 37 

IV. TEACHER AND SEMINARY STUDENT. 68 
V. LITERARY RECREATION. 87 

VI. PASTORAL LIFE. Ill 

VII. PASTORAL LIFE — CONTINUED. 141 

VIII. TWO EPISODES : 1. THE CHRISTIAN COM- 
MISSION. 2. VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND. 175 
IX. LITERARY WORK. 198 

X. THE PREACHER. 223 

XI. POST-PASTORAL LIFE-CHAUTAUQUA-LAST 

DAYS. 241 

IT FUNERAL and MEMORIAL SERVICES, &c. 

I. FUNERAL SERVICES AT FRANKLIN. 262 

II. MEMORIAL SERVICES AT FRANKLIN. 282 

III. MEMORIAL SKRVICES AT CHAUTAUQUA. 2D2 

IV. PRESBYTERIAL MEMORIAL SERVICES. 305 
V. LETTERS OF SYMPATHY. 311 

VI. NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 333 



MEMOIR OF 
S. J. M. EATON, D. D. 



CHAPTER I. 
EARLY TIMES. 

The name given to a child sometimes marks an 
epoch. The number of "Andrew Jacksons," with 
which the baptismal registers of the churches in the 
United States were sprinkled between the years 1828 
and 1836, would fill a considerable volume. Few 
families in this country, in the early part of the pres- 
ent century, were without a George Washington 
among their sons; and even yet "G. W." and "A. 
J." are the most common initials found in city direc- 
tories and on tax lists. Calvin and Luther and Wes- 
ley are still made sponsors, at least to the extent of 
giving their names, to the sons respectively of many 
a Presbyterian or Lutheran or Methodist parent. 

When a fifth son was born, on the 15th of April, 
1820, to the Rev. Johnston Eaton, it was but a year 
or two after the death of the Rev. Samuel John 
Mills, the earnest and devoted leader of the band of 
ardent young men who were instrumental in starting 
that wonderful awakening in the cause of missions to 
the heathen, which resulted in the organization of the 
"American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
sions." Graduated from Yale College in 1809, and 
licensed in 1812, after a course of theological study at 



S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



Andover, to preach the Gospel, he went, under the 
patronage of the Congregational Churches of Connec- 
ticut and Massachusetts, on a Missionary tour through 
the Southern States. He was ordained in 1815, and 
after two or three years spent among the churches in 
his own country in organizing Societies, and stirring 
them to greater zeal and activity in the work of For- 
eign Missions, he was sent to Africa to select a site 
for a colony of manumitted Slaves — this being deemed 
at that time a feasible scheme for securing the Chris- 
tianizing of the millions of heathen in that great dark 
continent. 

He and his fellow Missionary, Rev. Ebenezer 
Burgess, sailed for Africa by way of England in 
November, 1817; and after spending two months on 
the African coast, and having accomplished the pur- 
pose of their visit, they sailed on their return voyage 
in May, 1818. But Mr. Mills sickened and died be- 
fore reaching home and was buried at sea. His 
1 youth, his zeal and energy, and his consecration to a 
great work, coupled with his untimely death, made a 
deep impression on all who had become interested in 
the cause of Foreign Missions and African Coloniza- 
tion in this country; and the Rev. Johnston Eaton 
and his pious and devoted wife Elizabeth signalized 
their admiration of the character and work of the 
young martyr by naming the first son born to them 
after his death, Samuel John Mills. His subse- 
quent career showed that the honor was not misplaced. 

He was born, as already stated, in the year 1820 — 
a very early date in the history of Presbyterianism in 



Early Times. J 

North Western Pennsylvania. His father had settled 
but thirteen years before near the mouth of Walnut 
Creek, on the Pennsylvania Shore of Lake Erie, and 
began to preach the Gospel, being the first permanent- 
ly settled minister in the region of the Lake ; and but 
twelve years before, his mother, Elizabeth Canon — a 
niece of that John Canon who founded and gave 
name to Canonsburg, Pennsylvania — as the bride of 
the young minister, made her way on horseback from 
Laurel Hill, Fayette county, a distance of one hun- 
dred and fifty miles, to the log cabin home her hus- 
band had prepared for her. The second war with 
Great Britain had come to an end but five years be- 
fore, and was still the exhaustless theme of talk around 
every fireside, and wherever men and boys were gath- 
ered together. For nearly all men and large boys, 
living within from thirty to fifty miles of Presque 
Isle Bay (the present harbor of Erie), and able to bear 
arms, had been called to do service in the garrison at 
Erie, or to assist in the construction of Perry's fleet at 
that point; or they had enlisted under the brave Com- 
mander and borne their part in the famous victory 
which he achieved over the British fleet at the West- 
ern end of the Lake. This war talk, and the recount- 
ing of brave exploits and " hair-breadth 'scapes by 
flood and field," in due time began to die away; but 
the children, as they advanced to years of thought, 
would demand to have the old stories repeated, and 
so the traditions of the war would be perpetuated. 

The whole region of country along the Lake, and for 
a hundred miles or more South, was in great part still 



S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



a wilderness of forest trees, but little changed from what 
it was when the newly licensed young minister, riding 
solitarily along a bridle-path, came first in sight of 
the great blue Lake rising majestically against the 
sky, and sweeping the whole horizon on the North. 

The town of Erie was a village of but a few hun- 
dred people. Waterford, fifteen miles South, was a 
mere cluster of houses on the site of the old French 
Fort, Le BoeufF, And here and there in what is now 
the county of Erie were clumps of houses that have 
since developed into the flourishing towns of North 
East, Girard, Union City, Springfield, Wattsburg, &c. 
Farms were but clearings of limited space. The 
roads were but winding wagon tracks through the 
woods and over the hills and across shallow places in 
the streams — for bridges were very rare. 

Churches were few and far between. There was 
one at Springfield, another at Waterford, another at 
North East, one in Erie^ and one at Fairview, or the 
Mouth of Walnut Creek — for the village of Fairview 
had not then been thought of. 

When Samuel John Mills Eaton made his appear- 
ance in his father's house, his coming increased the 
family group to eight, the parents included. There 
was first Daniel, the eldest, then John, then William, 
then Martha, Johnston, and finally Mills, — the name 
by which he was uniformly called by his brothers and 
sisters, his cousins, school-mates and nearest friends. 
Isaac and Elizabeth were added to the family in sub- 
sequent years. 



Early Times. 5 

At the time of Mills's birth his father was preach- 
ing alternately in the " Yellow Meeting-House" in 
Erie, and in the log church, his home church, on the 
bank of the Lake, ten miles further west. When the 
pastor was at home the whole family, babies included, 
went to church. This was in part a measure of neces- 
sity; for in those early times there was no "girl" with 
whom to leave them in charge; so the mother must 
either remain at home, or take the entire brood with 
her. 

What this u log church" was like where Mills 
Eaton, first as babe, then as small boy and larger boy, 
went to church, is thus described by Dr. Eaton him- 
self, in an address delivered on the occasion of the 
75th anniversary of the organization of Fairview 
Church: "The meeting-house," he says, " was not at 
" first provided with regular seats, but was furnished 
" with temporary benches, made by placing boards or 
" slabs on billets of wood. This was until such time 
"as the people felt able to have regular pews made. 
" In process of time this was done. Pews were ar- 
" ranged and made in regular order, the workmanship 
"of the wonderful singer* — one of their number who 
" was the good genius of the neighborhood, and the 
" leader in all the improvements of the country. 

" The pulpit was in the end of the building, about 
"three feet above the floor, entirely boxed in, and 
" about five by eight feet in size. On either side of 
" the pulpit was a row of seats extending back to the 



Mohri Pherrin. 



6\ J. M. Eaton, D. D 



" walls, while in front the seats were arranged in two 
" rows reaching to the rear wall. They were arranged 
" in this wise : First, on the left of the pulpit, was 
" the pew of the pastor's family. At the head of this 
" sat good old John Pherrin, 'the dark,' as they call- 
" ed him, ready to rise in his seat, as the reading of 
"the hymn was concluded, and say, 'sing Fiducia? 
" Next to him on the same seat was the minister's old- 
" est son, then the next to him in point of age, then 
"the minister's wife; whilst the youngest child (unless 
11 a babe in arms) found accommodations on the steps 
11 of the pulpit." And here we may imagine the little 
Mills sitting when two or three years old — taking his 
first step as it were towards the pulpit to which he 
was afterwards to ascend, and which, in the generic 
sense of the word, he was to adorn for so many years. 
These were very primitive times. The whole coun- 
try was still wild and rude. Nature had as yet been 
only scratched here and there by the hand of improve- 
ment. Houses were but cabins in the wilderness, and 
home comforts and conveniences were few; and the 
people planned for no more comfort or convenience 
in the Meeting-House than in the cabin. "At the 
first," to quote again from Dr. Eaton's discourse, 
"there was no arrangement for heating the meeting- 
" house. For a time, up at least to 1815, there was a 
" brick hearth laid in the middle of the house, and 
" charcoal from the blacksmith's shop was placed 
" upon it and kindled. This made a generous heat, 
"and modified somewhat the cold of winter; but as 
" there was neither chimney nor flue, the carbonic acid 



Early Times. 7 

" gas was not at all favorable to intelligent hearing, or 
u even preaching, and occasionally a lady would ap- 
u proach so near as to inhale the gas and sink down to 
" the floor unconscious, until carried out into the open 
" air. 

"After this a large 'ten-plate' stove, that had been 
" brought from east of the mountains with infinite 
" trouble by one of the settlers, was procured and set 
"up, to the joy and comfort of the worshippers. To 
"accommodate this stove a chimney was made from 
" the attic up through the roof." 

To this "log meeting-house" the young Mills 
Eaton trudged, after he was old enough to walk, 
through most of the years of his boyhood, along the 
winding woodland road, every Sabbath — unless his 
father were absent holding service and preaching in 
one of his more distant charges. In the winter sea- 
son, however, services in the old church were often 
suspended. The distance many of the parishioners 
had to travel, over almost impassable roads, un- 
less snow was on the ground, made the effort too 
severe even for their faith and resolution to endure, — 
especially when the house, in which they were to wor- 
ship, at the end of their tedious journey, was scarcely 
more comfortable than the open forest — " God's first 
temple" — through which they had passed. 

But the old church at length grew too old and too 
uncomfortable and — although it had been enlarged — 
was tQO small for the satisfactory accommodation of 
the large and constantly increasing congregation. So 
in 1833, a quarter of a century after it was first dedi- 



8 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

cated to the worship of God, it was abandoned; and a 
new and much more commodious building, erected near 
what is now Swan's Station on the Railroads, was oc- 
cupied; and thither "Father Eaton," as he was affec- 
tionately called for many years, diligently went, with 
his wife and eight children — at least as many of them 
as were still at home — every Sunday, and preached the 
Gospel of the Kingdom for twelve years more. 

Continual fruits had attended his ministry from the 
first. During the twenty-one years from 1810 to 
1831, over one hundred persons were added to the 
church, nearly all on profession of their faith in 
Christ. 

It fell to the lot of the writer and compiler of this 
Memoir to bear a part in the celebration of the 75th 
Anniversary of the founding of Fairview Church, and 
to present a paper on that occasion on "The First Pas- 
tor, Early Elders, and Members of the Church." A 
few extracts from that address, giving some of the 
characteristics of the father of Dr, Eaton, and some 
account of his labors as a minister, with an incidental 
sketch of his old home, may be appropriately given 
here: 

" ' Father Eaton ' was not the man to shirk duty in 
his sacred calling, or to spare labor and personal ex- 
posure in the service of his people. Many a ride 
through mud and storm he took on his good horse 
'Jolly/ or in his heavy-topped carriage after the same 
slow but patient beast, urging him pleasantly with his 
'c'up Jolly, c'up Jolly/ to visit a sick or infirm par- 
ishioner, or to reach one of his distant preaching 



Early Times. g 

points. One who had deliberately given himself 
when a young man to the work of the Gospel Minis- 
try on the frontier, was not likely to become indolent, 
or to yield to ease and self-indulgence when he grew 
older. 

"As I remember ' Father Eaton/ he was a small 
man, slight in form, and of a very serious cast of 
countenance. He was always close-shaved, with thin 
brown hair streaked with gray, and mild blue eyes. 
His voice had a peculiar tone — not clear and full, but 
rather rasping and thin. As a speaker he was unim- 
passioned, but spoke right on in a monotonous and 
uniform tone. He attempted no flights of oratory 
and used no gesticulation. He never read his ser- 
mons, but spoke from brief notes, holding a small 
Bible or Testament in his left hand, and looking 
straight forward. His spectacles generally rested at 
the top of his wrinkled forehead, except when he 
would occasionally adjust them to read a passage of 
Scripture or glance at his notes. 

"Mr. Eaton's sermons were what would now be 
called strongly doctrinal. But the great theme of his 
preaching, as it was his main comfort in life and his 
only hope in the hour of death, was salvation through 
Christ alone But he did not rest mere- 
ly in sound doctrine. He illustrated his faith by his 
works, and proved himself a child of God by his holy 
living. He fearlessly rebuked sin, and preached 
God's law as the rule of life. While he told men, 
therefore, that it was only by God's mercy and through 
the infinite merits of Christ that they could be saved, 



io S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

he made it plain to them that it was not in their sins, 
but from their sins that they were to be saved, and 
made heirs of eternal life. 

"But while he taught sound doctrine, and rebuked 
sin, and openly opposed and battled against Sabbath- 
breaking, drunkenness, and every kind of vice, he 
was not indifferent to those great questions, partly 
moral and partly political, that began, even in his 
day, to be widely and earnestly agitated. One of 
these was Slavery, another was Temperance. On the 
latter question he stood early in the front ranks of 
those who pledged themselves, and endeavored to per- 
suade others to pledge themselves, against the use as a 
beverage of any kind of spirituous liquors. As to 
wine, beer and cider — this apparently innocent trio 
had not then been put under ban as the sly and sure 
tempters and betrayers of men into the paths of 
drunkenness that they really were. But before his 
death he was ready, with the great mass of Christians 
everywhere, to put these also on the list of intoxicat- 
ing drinks that were to be totally abstained from. 

" But this earnest and de- 
voted pastor was not always solemn and serious, nor 
was he always occupied in meditating upon or discuss- 
ing theological and moral subjects. He had a fine 
social nature, and enjoyed good company and good 
living, as T believe "the cloth" generally do. He 
made purely social as well as pastoral visits, and was 
never so happy as when entertaining his elders, or 
other intimate friends in the congregation, at his own 
board. 



Early Times. II 

" It was often my good fortune as a boy to visit my 
cousins of the old brown parsonage, and to see the 
minister, their father, in the midst of his every day 
life. In the family sitting-room, at the dinner-table, 
or about the farm in homely garb, he seemed quite 
like other folks — pleasant and talkative, taking an in- 
terest in ordinary affairs. 

" But if I came upon him in his study, — and I 
chanced sometimes to blunder into that sacred place, 
supposing him to have stepped out — a spirit of awe 
seized me ; and if he spoke to me, or asked me any 
question, I was speechless. But generally, at such a 
time, being absorbed in thought, meditating his Sun- 
day's sermon perhaps, he would pay no heed to me, 
but with finger to forehead and eyes closed, or fixed 
on a passage of Scripture lying before him, he would 
remain undisturbed, and I would escape as quietly as 
I could. 

" Doubtless this awe of him in his study — a dark- 
ened little room, with Bibles, and Missionary Heralds, 
and ancient-looking volumes of divinity lying around 
— was owing more to my imagination than to any- 
thing stern, or severe, or catechetical in this little man 
whom people called reverend. In other and proper 
places he enjoyed a laugh and was as jolly as the 
youngest of us. Nevertheless, I was not able to get 
rid of the awe that that quiet study and its dark- 
coated occupant inspired. 

" Rev. Johnston Eaton was not a man possessing 
those qualities that attract the admiration and secure 
the noisy applause of men. He was quite without 



12 S. ?. M. Eaton, D. D. 

worldly ambition. Modest and unpretending, he was 
yet a bold advocate of the truth, and fearless in de- 
fence of what he believed to be right. By his high 
personal character, his purity of life, his open condem- 
nation of all laxity of principle, and all forms of im- 
morality and whatever tended thereto, as well as by 
his preaching the pure Gospel of the grace of God, he 
exerted a vast influence for good upon a wide spread 
community — an influence that still continues to be felt 
in many churches and in a thousand homes : So that 
in truth, 'he being dead, yet speaketh.' " 

The mother of Dr. Eaton was entirely worthy of 
such a husband. Her father had died when she was 
a child, and with four other children, three sisters and 
one brother, she being the eldest of the family, her 
training and education had fallen to the care of a 
faithful and God-fearing mother. She was the first 
to marry and leave the quiet and pleasant farm-house 
in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, that had been her 
only home — resolutely saying like Rebekah, when 
asked by Isaac's messenger if she would go to the far 
off country and be the wife of his master, " I will 
go" — though it involved hardship and self-denial, be- 
ginning with a journey on horseback of many days 
through a wild region of country, and ending in mak- 
ing her home in a log cabin with a poorly paid minis- 
ter and among people who had just begun to cut out 
for themselves little farms and make for themselves 
rude homes in the woods. A few years afterwards 
her sister Martha, ten years her junior, came with her 
to the Lake Shore region when she had been back to 



Early Times. 13 

the old home at the foot of the Laurel Hills on a visit ; 
and thereafter remained with her till, in 1818, she 
married Andrew Caughey, whose father was one of 
the earliest settlers in Erie County (1803) — the young 
couple establishing their home seven miles nearer the 
town of Erie than the minister's house was. There- 
after the sisters were a great comfort to one another, 
and regrets for the old home grew less and less as the 
years passed on and family cares and pleasures in- 
creased. 

Mrs. Eaton was of a cheerful disposition, full of 
charity and good deeds. She looked well to the ways 
of her household. But she was not of the kind that 
worry and fret. Her trust in God was strong and un- 
failing. If at any time the larder was almost empty, 
and the meat barrel reduced to nothing but brine, the 
Lake, swarming with excellent fish, was not far off, 
and the forest just at the door was full of the finest 
game, which even the minister could bring down with 
his old flint-lock fowling-piece. There was always 
some resource; and "The Lord will provide" was a 
text seldom absent from the hearts of these faithful 
servants of God. 

While the mistress of the humble parsonage was 
not anxious, she was careful and thoughtful; and not 
only provided for the physical wants of her growing 
family, but was even more careful to look after their 
spiritual interests, and practically to follow St. Paul's 
rule, and " bring up her children in the nurture and 
admonition of the Lord." She was also a woman of 
refined taste. She made her home attractive with 



i 4 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

flowers, of which she was exceedingly fond, and with 
pictures and such articles of decoration as with her 
slender means she could command. She believed in 
the power of home influence, and acted on the princi- 
ple that 

4 'Home makes the man, and woman makes the home." 
Of her it could be said with entire truth, as of 
every true home-making woman : 

"Her care, her patient toil, her blithesome ways ; 
Her gentle teachings in our infant days — 
Her pleasant words, her sunny smile, her face 
Of beauty or of goodness, and her grace 
In manner and in mind — these are the spell 
That draws our willing hearts at home to dwell. 
For she and home are one, and ne'er apart 
Can one without the other fill the heart." 

Under the care of such a father and mother, and in 
a home — primitive and plain indeed, but made attrac- 
tive and helpful with the purest and best things — did 
Mills Eaton grow up to manhood, watched and taught 
and cared for, and supplied with all the elements of 
training and influence that serve to form the noblest 
and best character in a Christian man. 



-&&Tr^''Q?Jd^r~- 



CHAPTER II. 
HOME AND SCHOOL DAYS. 

Mills Eaton was intellectually bright and quick as 
a child. He had learned to read before he was three 
years old. Although active and playful like most 
children — taking delight in out-door sports ; wander- 
ing through the thick woods that were not far from 
his father's door; racing over the fields among the 
half burnt stumps and logs, chasing the red-squirrels 
along the fences, or setting cage-traps for the wild 
pigeons ; he was yet for the most part a sedate and 
thoughtful child. 

He soon knew why he had been baptized Samuel 
John Mills; and the fact that he bore the name of 
that brilliant and devoted young Missionary, who had 
been called to his high reward at so early an age, made 
a deep impression on him. Like Timothy, " from a 
child " he had " known the Holy Scriptures, which/' 
as in the case of that young minister, St. Paul's " own 
son in the faith," were not only " able to " but, as we 
have reason to believe, actually did, even in his child- 
hood, " make him wise unto salvation through faith 
which is in Christ Jesus." 

He soon began to read the Bible in course ; for we 
find him noting, while a student in College, that at a 
certain date (May 14th, 1843), he had " finished read- 
ing the Bible in course for the fifth time;" adding de- 
voutly to the record, "O how love I thy law!" 



1 6 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

From infancy, even from the time when the drops of 
baptismal water fell upon his forehead, he had 
evidently been dedicated to God by his parents as a 
minister of the Gospel. As one of his older brothers 
says of him : " I cannot tell at what age his relig- 
ious experience commenced ; but it seems to me he was 
always a Christian." He was conscientious and 
truthful, and by his personal character and conduct 
more than by his words he was influential for good — 
it might almost be said, "a means of grace" — to other 
members of the family. And one of them, turning 
her thoughts back to these early days at home, says : 
" When a little girl I feared to do anything that was 
not just right before him more than before my father. 
Not that he would reprove me more severely; but the 
sad, or rather the sorrowful look that he would give 
me, went to my heart at once." 

While quiet and serious, and much given to read- 
ing, he was by no means a recluse. He was a pleas- 
ant-tempered boy, and members of his family do not 
remember his ever using a harsh word to his father or 
mother, or to his brothers and sisters. If sometimes 
crossed in his desires or plans, or nettled by word or 
deed of others, as must have happened now and then 
in so numerous a family of active and healthy boys 
and girls, he must have early learned to repress resent- 
ment and curb his tongue. Though not given to fri- 
volity, he was often witty and humorous. He was 
quick to see the ludicrous side of a thing, and enjoyed 
a laugh as much as his less sober-minded brothers and 
sisters; and this trait remained with him throughout 



Hotne and School Days. ij 

life. He knew from childhood that he was to be a 
preacher; but this did not lead him to set himself up 
as Sir Oracle, or incline him to play the pharisee, or 
to put on any I-am-holier-than-thou airs. 

He was ingenius in mechanism, and in carving 
figures in wood of men and animals. He had a talent 
for drawing which served him in good stead in after 
life. He had also his mother's taste for flowers and 
gardening; and altho' never much inclined towards 
work or bodily exercise, he was skillful in devising 
and in making plans for others. In matters of pro- 
portion and artistic form he was seldom at fault. 

He acquired the rudiments of education at his 
mother's knee, learning to read quickly. But when 
still a child he went to school, with his bigger broth- 
ers and sisters, in the school-house that stood for many 
years on the Ridge Road near what is now Fairview 
village. It was a walk of nearly two miles from his 
father's house to this small unpainted wooden build- 
ing; and here he would sit for six mortal hours, divid- 
ed into two equal sections by an extra hour at noon 
for play and lunch, his little feet and legs dangling 
from a bench placed in front of one of the desks assign- 
ed to the larger scholars ; and then trudge back over 
the two miles of mud or snow or dust to his mother's 
much-loved sitting-room. This primitive way of ac- 
quiring an education was gone on with day after day 
for five or six years, and the " three R's," with geo- 
graphy and grammar, and a dip into algebra, were 
pretty thoroughly mastered. 



18 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

An incident of his early school-going days, which 
shows the beginning, or out-cropping, of that which 
became the master passion of his life, the study of the 
Bible, is related by his younger sister Elizabeth, the 
wife of Rev James W. Dickey : "He was attending 
school (at the school-house already mentioned), and 
had advanced far enough to be able to read the Bible ; 
and he wanted father's small Bible to take to 
school to read in. As father had only one small 
Bible, which he used himself, he was unwilling to let 
him have it. But Mills would not go without the 
Bible, and could not be turned from his purpose 
either by persuasion or punishment, but lingered by 
the way until he got the book. And I often heard 
mother say it was ever after his guide and companion." 

He began to teach a country school when but a 
stripling — well furnished so far as a knowledge of the 
branches to be taught was concerned, but with little 
or no training calculated to make him u apt to teach." 
The public school was at that time in its most primi- 
tive condition, especially in country districts. The 
"big boys" were generally a pretty rough set, and the 
well dressed and quiet young "school-master" who 
was placed over them and their equally rude but per- 
haps not quite as "rough" sisters and sweet-hearts, 
must employ great tact and patience and self-control 
if he escaped the not uncommon fate of being " barred 
out" by these ruffians, and compelled to purchase his 
entrance by a bushel or two of apples and the corres- 
ponding quantity of cider; or even carried out into 
the woods and compelled to abandon his school. 



Home and School Days. ig 



Young Mills Eaton met with no such dire experi- 
ences as these in his first school at " Neff town," Erie 
county; but his three months' term of teaching, at $12 
a month, in that back- woods neighborhood, was by no 
means a happy period in his life. He could "mend" 
quill pens ; sit down beside a stupid boy or a pretty 
girl and "do" the hard "sums" in Arithmetic for 
them; "hear" great blundering fellows read in the 
"English Reader;" teach "Kirkham's Grammar" and 
"Olney's Geography" and "Daboll's Arithmetic." 
Yes, and he could hold "Spelling-Schools." This 
was a style of instruction in the difficult accomplish- 
ment of learning to spell English words, in high 
vogue in those days. For the school-boys and school- 
girls of half a century ago were — at least many of 
them were — accustomed to receive daily doses of hard 
spelling out of a book now doubtless for many years 
out of print and out of use, namely, "Cobb's Spell- 
ing-Book." And it seemed to have within its covers 
more hard words — that is words with more "silent" 
and useless letters in them — than any other book de- 
signed for the affliction of youths and maidens in their 
efforts to learn how to spell. Much time was occupied 
during school hours in acquiring this accomplishment ; 
and then an evening was given almost every week to 
a contest among the scholars of the school, or with 
some neighboring school, in spelling. And the boy or 
girl who could "spell the school down" was accounted 
worthy of the highest honor — a very champion of 
scholarship. 



20 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

These various duties of the country school- master 
Mills Eaton was able to perform with satisfaction to 
all concerned, — meantime " watching" the mischiev- 
ous or idle or wicked scholars, and keeping them in 
order through the fear or infliction of rod or ferule, — 
with the necessary expenditure of nervous power and 
bodily strength. But when the day's work was over, 
he was homesick and most unhappy. For he was 
obliged to "board around," as it was called. First 
there was a walk, whatever the weather and the state 
of the roads, often of from one to three miles. Some 
of the houses in which he was entertained were very 
uncomfortable and the people primitive and rude in 
their manner of living. What he saw and endured 
was often unpleasant ; but at the same time the ludi- 
crous or fun-loving side of his nature was touched; 
and many was the strange and often laughable story 
that he had to tell to his mother — whom he always 
made his confident — when he would get home at the 
end of each week, of his peculiar trials and experi- 
ences as a pedagog. One amusing incident among his 
"boarding 'round" experiences may be worth relating. 
During one week he was entertained in the house of a 
German family. When he arrived on Monday even- 
ing, the mistress of the house showed him into the 
awful "best room;" and having in due time placed a 
roasted goose upon the table for his evening meal, she 
"left him alone in his glory." And all that week the 
"chief of his diet" was roast goose — or at least as long 
as the goose held out. 



Home and School Days. 21 

His next school was in the village of Manchester, 
as it was called, at the mouth of Walnut Creek, the 
same spot where his father began to preach some 
thirty years before. His experience here was much 
more pleasant than in the half German settlement of 
"Neff-town;" and then he was but two miles from 
home, and would often trudge over the muddy or 
snow-coated road through the woods, after his day's 
toil was over, that he might spend the night at that 
place dearest to him on earth, his father's and mother's 
pleasant home. 

It was while teaching in this school that he fully 
made up his mind to become a minister of the Gospel. 
His mind had been tending to this determination, as 
we have already seen, even from a child, and he knew 
that it was the great desire of his parents that he 
should devote himself to this sacred work. But the 
actual consecration had not yet come; and it was not 
without great hesitancy, and after weighing thorough- 
ly and prayerfully the question of his fitness for the 
work, and whether or not he had been called to it, 
that he finally resolved to enter upon the needed pre- 
paration. His notion of what constituted the " godly 
call" seems to have been a very exacting and positive 
one. Providential leadings, inclination and desire, 
natural talent, his own unwavering faith in the Sav- 
ior of sinners, the manifest wish of his parents — any 
one or all of these considerations did not seem to have 
sufficient weight to bring his mind to the final irrevo- 
cable determination. 



22 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

His sister speaks of his process of reaching it as "a 
long struggle." Introspection, or self-examination, — 
indeed the most unflinching self-inquisition — was one 
of the strongest traits of his spiritual nature, which 
we shall see more fully developed during his career in 
College and Seminary. We have no history of the 
progress of the "long struggle," or of the elements 
that entered into it — the prayers and searchings of the 
Holy Word, and the "strong crying and tears to Him 
who was able to save." We only know that he did 
finally resolve with God's help to go forward and 
enter upon the long period (eight years) of preparation 
for the great and glorious work. 

It was after his second term of teaching in the Man- 
chester school that he left home to begin his prepara- 
tory studies. The Erie Academy had then (in 1839) 
as now a high reputation as a classical school, and 
Mr. Eaton the elder had no hesitation in entering his 
son in that institution in order to his preparation for 
College. James Park presided over it at that time as 
principal. He was a man of striking and peculiar 
traits, both physical and mental. One of his pupils,* 
in an article contributed to a school paper called "The 
Academy," published by the boys of the school in 
1870, thus describes him: "He dressed in solemn 
black, with straight dress-coat, large pantaloons, and 
low shoes. His complexion was sallow, face smoothly 
shaven, hair brushed forward at the sides, and straight 
np in the center. 



♦Isaac Moorhead. 



Home and School Days. 23 

" He was very stern and 

exacting — not without a quiet humor of his own; but 
still he seemed to stand upon an elevation, and we 
never got quite near him. He used to say to us: 
1 The Bible is the best book, and then comes Ross's 
Latin Grammar.' He never seemed *so well pleased 
as when hearing classes in the languages. He fairly 
revelled in Cicero, Sallust and Horace, particularly 
the latter ; and after the lesson was over he would read 
page upon page for the edification of the class. 

. . . . Mr. Park was a thorough disciplinarian, 
and made his mark upon his scholars, mentally and 
physically." 

Another teacher, who came later in Mr. Eaton's 
career as an Academy student, made a lasting impres- 
sion upon him. This was John Limber, afterwards a 
preacher of the Gospel. He also was a man of very 
peculiar traits — a fine scholar, but not, so far as disci- 
pline and management were concerned, a very success- 
ful teacher. But Mr. Eaton himself has drawn a 
picture of this strange man and of the school over 
which he presided, in an "Old Academy" article con- 
tributed to the same paper mentioned above. It is a 
fair sample of his ability as a writer in this lighter 
vein, and at the same time presents his teacher vivid- 
ly to our view : 

" I think I see John Limber now as he appeared 
" when principal of the Academy. He was about five 
" feet eight inches in height, slender and erect. In- 
" deed he was very slender in form ; with black hair 
" and I think hazel eyes, and a calm, mild counten- 



24 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

ance. He often looked pleased, but never frowned. 
There was a peculiar nervousness about him that 
seemed to render him unhappy. At least I thought 
so. He never sat down — was everywhere about the 
room in school hours, and was often seen when out 
of school taking solitary walks. 

" He loved a good student, and to assist such he 
spared neither labor nor pains, in school or out. A 
mischievous boy was to him a pest and a plague. 
He could not punish him, he could not frown him 
down ; and as a general thing left him in possession 
of the field.. Mr. Limber had a most lovely dispos- 
ition. He was meek and quiet and humble as a 
child. There was not the most infinitessimal grain 
of selfishness in his nature. He would divide his 
last dime with you, and most likely follow you and 
force his half upon your acceptance. 

" He was a most conscientious man. Shrinking 
from all public duties, his conscience forced him for- 
ward until his life was a constant crucifixion. After 
he left the Academy he became a Minister of the 
Gospel. And yet in some of its aspects the work 
was a positive agony to him, for it brought him in 
contact with society, and placed him in a conspicu- 
ous position. Once when a brother minister had ob- 
tained from him a promise to preach, he went into 
his room a short time before the hour of service and 
found him walking the room and wringing his hands 
in agony. On another occasion the agony utterly 
overcame the poor man, and he fled from the house 



Home and School Days. 25 

" and from the town, and was seen no more for 
" weeks." 

Notwithstanding his natural defects as a teacher, 
there was much in the character of this slender and 
nervous man to impress and influence his pupil, still 
under the spell of the quiet home of a country minis- 
ter. When the teacher was distressed and perplexed 
by the ceaseless pranks of the idle and mischievous 
big boys and hoydenish girls, who made up a large 
portion of the school, he found a ready sympathizer 
in the studious Mills Eaton. His patience, gentleness, 
and forbearance in trying circumstances, were a con- 
stant lesson to the young student in the practice of 
those Christian virtues; while in his studies the latter 
could not have found an assistant better or more help- 
ful. Many an hour, either in the class or out of regu- 
lar school hours, the willing teacher spent with the 
eager student in guiding him through the pleasant 
gardens of Latin and Greek literature, as well as 
along the easier paths of English learning ; and to 
this faithful teacher, as well as to the more energetic 
and positive James Park, is owing much of the ease 
and grace of style shown by Dr. Eaton both in his 
writings of a secular character and in his pulpit dis- 
courses. 

It must have been while a student of the Academy 
that he devoted himself to God in the following 
solemn Creed and Covenant, found in his hand- 
writing since his death ; for it bears date of the year 
preceding his entering College : 



26 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" I believe in God the Father Almighty, eternal 
1 and invisible, the Creator of all worlds, the God of 
i Angels and of men : And in Jesus Christ his Son 
1 our Lord ; and in the Holy Ghost our sanctifier — 
1 three distinct persons and one God, co-existent and 
1 co-equal : In the imputation of Adam's guilt as a 
1 federal head to all his posterity ; the entire and total 
1 depravity of the human heart, and its utter inability 
1 to do anything good ; the divine influence alone of 
' the Spirit can prepare the heart of fallen man to re- 
' ceive the truth : In the regenerating influences of 
' the Holy Spirit, and that without a change of heart 
1 there can be no hope of happiness. I believe in the 
' resurrection of the dead, the communion of the 
4 Spirit, and the life everlasting 

" And now, O Lord Almighty, the Creator of 
1 heaven and earth, the Judge of quick and dead, 
' would I, a sinful creature, a worm of the dust, in 
( view of divine majesty, approach into thy presence, 
' and in humble reliance upon divine strength, make 
1 this covenant to be the Lord's. O Lord, thou 
' knowest that I am a weak creature, altogether de- 
1 filed by sin. Yet in humble reliance on the merits 
i of Jesus would I approach unto thee and hope for 
1 reconciliation through his blood. I would come be- 
' fore thee just as I am, poor and miserable and blind 
1 and naked — utterly estranged from holiness and 
1 incapable of good. I would abhor myself on ac- 
1 count of sin, and repent in dust and ashes. 

" And now in the presence of the heart-searching 
11 God, do I covenant to be only his. I give myself 



> Home and School Days. 27 

44 soul and body, time and talent, all I am and all I 

41 have, unreservedly unto his service ; for they are all 

14 his. I am not my own, but bought with a price, 

11 even the precious blood of the Son of God. I com- 

44 mit my spotted soul into the hands of Jesus, to be 

44 washed and regenerated in his own good time and 

44 way, to be used in his service here, and to be placed 

44 hereafter among his beloved. 

c4 O Lord^thou knowest that I have desired to have 

u part in the ministry of reconciliation ; that it is my 

44 heart's only earthly wish ; and thou knowest wheth- 

44 er thou hast ought for me to do in the work. O 

44 Lord, if thou sendest me among the heathen to 

44 preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, there would 

44 1 live, there would I die. I desire nothing here be- 

44 low but to do thy holy will, to enjoy the light of thy 

" countenance, and the comfortable evidence of my 

44 acceptance through Christ. Be thou my guide thro' 

44 life, and my everlasting support in death. 

c Here Lord, I give myself away, 
'Tis all that 1 can do.' 

Samuel Mills Eaton." 
Erie, June 13th, 1841. 

Mr. Eaton early began to keep a record of his 
thoughts and experiences in the form of a " Journal 
and Diary." The earliest one that has come to light 
is designated as "No. 3/' and the first entry is under 
date of July 25th, 1841. He was at this time at home 
from school for a few weeks "for various reasons, 
health, recreation, &c." He at once took his place in 



28 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

the harvest field ; but remarks: "I still get my 'tale 
"of bricks y in Latin and Greek — study at night, 'while 
"all around are sleeping/ " Here and there an extract 
will be given from this Journal which will serve to 
show the current of his thoughts, and also his pro- 
gress and prevalent characteristics as a student. His 
conscience seems to have been very tender at this time 
— as indeed it always was — and the thought of his 
duty and his relations to God was always uppermost. 
"What is in the future?" he suddenly asks in the 
midst of a record of a day, — and answers, " O Lord, 
u thou knowest, and sufficient this is for me." Once 
in a while he disguises some thought or occurrence of 
a particularly private character in words of the Latin 
tongue, which he was then becoming acquainted with, 
as "Ambulant in societate cum M . claro 

occulo," &c 

u But the friendships of the world are vain," he 
adds. "What are they compared with the love of 
" God, and having a friend in Jesus ? O that sweet 
" inward peace which the world knoweth not." 

At this time he had a longing to become a Mission- 
ary to the heathen. "Surely," he writes, "the 
" l fields are white already for the harvest/ and the 
" Lord of the vineyard is by his providence making 
" the appeal, 'who will go for us?' O Lord, here am 

" I, send me ! Often admonished by 

" a cough that this tabernacle is mortal, living or dy- 
" ing may I promote thy glory. Let me be up and 
" doing, for time is hasting away." 



Home and School Days. 29 

On the 11th of August he makes record of a terri- 
ble calamity, which many of the oldest inhabitants of 
the city of Erie, after almost fifty years, still remem- 
ber with a shudder : " Heart-rending intelligence has 
"just reached us that the steamboat Erie has been 
> " burned, and nearly two hundred lives lost/' "August 
" 12. News confirmed of the disaster. Supposed to 
" be one hundred and seventy-five lives lost — all hur- 
" ried to an untimely grave and a dread eternity." 

By the 23d of August he was again at his studies 
in the Academy. "Commenced Virgil," he says. 
" Like it much. How sweet and smooth — exceeds 
" anything I ever read." On the Sabbath following 
he attended the "Seceders* Church" (now United 
Presbyterian). He notes hearing the distinguished 
Dr. Pressly* of Pittsburg in the Synod then in ses- 
sion. " He is quite an interesting man, rather be- 
" yond middle age, tall and graceful, with a thin face 
" full of expression and animation ; and certainly a 
" model for a speaker in debate." 

On one Sunday he notes having "attended meeting 
" six times, — at 9 o'clock young men's prayer meet- 
" ing, at 10 o'clock Sabbath School, at 11 Presbyterian 
" Church, at 1 p. m. the same, at 3 Episcopal Church, 
" and in the evening the Seceder Church." Being 
highly commended one day by his teacher he veils the 
fact in Latin-English phrase thus: "Got magnam 
" laudem to-day e meo domino. I like to read Virgil 

♦Father of Rev. Joseph H. Pressly, D. D.. for many 
years the beloved pastor of the United Presbyterian 
Church, Erie. 



jo S y. M Eaton, D. D. 



" very much indeed. Some most beautiful and lovely 
11 ideas. Sitting surrounded by my books the question 
" came to my mind, 'Lovest thou me more than these V 
" Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I desire to love thee, 
" but O how weak. Strengthen me by thy almighty 
" power." Some days afterwards he writes : "I 
thought of a departed friend who, when dying, said to 
11 me : 'Something tells me that you will be of service in 
" the world. 7 O that it might be so. But 'Thy will 
" be done/ I think I desire nothing here but to do 
" the will of God. All, all for Christ. How precious 
" is the Cross !" 

The words that follow, taken from the record of a 
day, seem more like those of an aged Saint " ready to 
depart and be with Christ," than those of a buoyant 
and ambitious student in the midst of his preparation 
for College and Seminary and forty years of valiant 
service on the battle-fields of the Church. "O blessed 
" hope, full of immortality!" he exclaims ; "when 
" shall 'this mortal put on immortality V When will 
u the unclouded regions of heaven dawn to this low 
"estate? Then shall we be free from the sufferings 
" and calamities of this life. But better still we shall 
" be free from sin (blessed hope !), be perfect in holi- 
11 ness, and see the Savior as he is — cast our crowns at 
" his feet, and be permitted to ascribe all to his free 

" and sovereign grace alone May I 

" daily be washed in the sanctifying blood of Jesus 
" Christ, which cleanses from all sin." 

During the months of October and November (1841) 
he remained at home, but devoted himself faithfully 



Home and School Days. ji 

to his studies — reading on some single days, as he 
notes, three hundred to four hundred lines of the 
iEneid. Early in December he returned to Erie and 
commenced teaching in one of the public schools. He 
speaks of it as "not very large — all boys, which 
u makes it rather lonesome. I think a hard set of 
11 boys to get along with." Being troubled with a 
cough he writes : " Perhaps the Lord may see fit to 
" summon me from life ere I have completed many 
11 more years or months. O Lord, thou knowest how 
" I have desired to be a missionary to the dying 
" heathen. But though sad and bitter the disappoint- 

" ment, I desire O Savior, help me to say, ' Thy 

" will be done !' " 

On the last day of the year (1841) he makes the 
following important record relating to his religious ex- 
perience : "I trust that the past has been the most in- 
" teresting year of my brief existence. I humbly 
M trust that in the past year, through the free grace of 
" God, / have found the 'pearl of great prioe.' To 
u God be the glory, for I have done nothing." 

His cough continued and became very severe, and 
he finally surrendered his school for a time and re- 
turned home. About two weeks later he writes in his 
Journal : "I feel much better, almost recovered. To 
" God be the praise and glory. Perhaps the Lord 
"will yet send me to the dying heathen. ' Behold 
" thy waiting Servant, Lord/ " A few days later he 
returned to his school, and was able to carry it on suc- 
cessfully till the end of the term in April. 



32 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

It was during this period that the great " Washing- 
tonian" Temperance movement was sweeping over the 
country. Starting with seven drunkards, who, after a 
debauch in a tavern in Baltimore, pledged themselves 
to each other in a solemn promise of total abstinence 
from all that could intoxicate, the good cause extended 
in all directions, with these seven reformed men as the 
Apostles of the crusade. Temperance meetings were 
held in every town and village, and almost every 
'school-house was the arena for Temperance orators. 
Students in the Academy who had some gifts of elo- 
quence had frequent calls here and there in country 
neighborhoods, and were willing enough to air their 
oratorical accomplishments in advocacy of so good a 
cause. Mills Eaton and some of his fellow-students 
were among these, and were ready to make Temper- 
ance speeches in churches and school-houses in the 
neighborhood of Erie. Of his first effort of this kind 
he says (March 31) : u Last night went with R. to a 
" Temperance meeting to make our maiden speeches. 
" I was enabled to speak with confidence and bold- 
" ness. An unseen power sustained me. 'Not unto 
" me but unto thee be the glory, O Lord my God. ? I 
" felt confused at first; but the text, 'Commit thy way 
" unto the Lord and He will direct thy steps/ came 
" to mind, and then I felt easy and calm." 

He attended several other meetings, and seems to 
have been quite successful as a Temperance advocate. 

In a letter to one of his brothers written about this 
time, he speaks of a literary society of the town with 
which he was connected, called " The Adelphic." It 



Home a?id School Days. jj 

consisted of forty members and had gathered a libra- 
ry of 200 volumes. "We have a mighty project in 
"view," he says, "which will astonish the 'natives' 
" when it becomes public, — provided it does not die 
" in the bud." The writer then branches off into a 
humorous account of a high function which he had 
been called to perform the evening before as the pre- 
siding "Judge" at a "colored" debating society, with 
George K. and Ralph K. sitting on either side as as- 
sistants. "And such a debate — such eloquence ! O 

" Demosthenes ! I happen to recollect 

" the exact language of one eloquent speaker. Speak- 
" ing of the wrongs of the Indian he said: 'De 
" Ingen is in a state of grievancy. He is droven off 
" to de Rocky Mounting, whar nothin' but de bar and 
" de panter and de pokepine and oder unfortunable 
" animals can stay/ — They keep up their debates reg- 
" ularly once a week. The following is a specimen of 
" the way they do business. One member got up and 
"said, 4 I motion and second the question for next 
" evening be : Which are the most beneficial to com- 
" munity, Stores or Taverns? All who are in favor 
" of the cause manifest it by saying aye/ " 

Our young student, who doubtless devoted the hours 
of the day deligently to his school studies, found his 
evenings fully occupied with engagements either of a 
literary or religious character. He thus describes the 
after-night occupations of one week: "Monday 
"evening, elocution class; Tuesday, 'Adelphic' and 
"prayer meeting; Wednesday, prayer meeting at our 
"house; Thursday, ( Athenaeum' ; Friday, prayer 



34 S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

"meeting; Saturday, sometimes one thing and some- 
" times another." 

James C. Reid, of Erie, a recent graduate of Jeffer- 
son College, and a man of superior attainments, was 
at this time a teacher in the Academy. He took great 
interest in matters of science; and Mr. Eaton in one 
of his letters speaks of "a splendid variety of Miner- 
" alogical and Geological specimens which Mr. Reid 
" had just received direct from Greece and Rome — no 
u less than three or four hundred specimens, each 
" neatly done up in paper and labeled — Crystals, 
" Quartzes, Carbuncles, &c. But what is more valua- 
" ble, especially to the antiquary, is a number of 
" relics from Pompeii and Herculaneum, — among 
" other things, a piece of gilded plastering from a 
" house in the former city, whose tenants have been 
" sleeping with the dead nearly 2,000 years. Also a 
" fragment from the temple of Diomede, of the finest 
" marble ; various specimens of lava from Mount 
" Vesuvius, &c. They were brought by a son of 
" Capt. Knapp, who is a midshipman in the Navy,— 
u so that they are genuine." 

The religious controversy in the Presbyterian 
Church, which had led recently to a division of the 
Church, and had caused separations and heart-burn- 
ings among the members of individual churches, was 
then still in an inflamed state. The Erie Church and 
its pastor had sided with the "New School" branch, 
while the Fairview Church and "Father Eaton" 
threw in their lot with the "Old School." Our Aca- 
demic student and incipient clergyman sided strongly ^ 



Home and School Days. 35 



as he naturally would, with his father's views. Of 
course he attended the Presbyterian Church, and most 
of his friends belonged to families of that church ; 
and he early learned, if it was not a part of his na- 
ture, to " follow the things that make for peace." His 
convictions were strong, but he was not given to con- 
troversy. 

Yet to be silent at all times was not easy. In a let- 
ter to his father, in August, 1842, when near the close 
of his Academic course, he speaks of his troubles in 
this respect: "My own situation here/' he says, "is 
11 not very pleasant in some respects. They are con- 
11 tiuually requesting me to point out the difference be- 
" tween the two parties (Old and New School), or 
" draw the line of demarcation ; and this you know is 
11 not always an easy matter — especially to those whose 
" theological knowledge is rather limited, and who are 
" not very anxious to arrive at the truth. 

Although hard at work in his studies during the 
summer — digging among tough "Greek roots/' and 
reading the satires of Horace — "I am not fond of 
Horace/' he says; "love Virgil much better. Sweet 
" Virgil how I admire you !" — although deeply en- 
gaged in these and other studies in his final prepara- 
tions for entering College, he seems to have given 
more attention than formerly to physical exercise, and 
to have borne his part in the social enjoyments of the 
town. But "these things of time and sense" — when 
he comes to make note of them in his Journal — "these 
" things are unsatisfying. They do not afford a por- 



S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



" tion for the soul. There is a void which nought but 
" faith in the Son of God can fill." 

He left the Academy at the close of the school year 
in September, thoroughly equipped in the studies he 
had pursued, and ready to enter, as we shall see, the 
Sophomore Class at College. 



— ■^^SaS^^^"" 



CHAPTER ITT. 
COLLEGE LIFE. 

As the young student drew near the close of his 
course in the Academy, and began to look forward to 
that paradise of opportunity and delight, as it appears 
to the imagination of every earnest and ambitious stu- 
dent, College Life, he found no difficulty in settling 
upon the place of his future studies. Aside from the 
wide-spread reputation of Jefferson College, Pennsyl- 
vania, as an institution in which thorough and broad 
scholarship, coupled with the practical inculcation of 
sound Christian principles, was the end aimed at, two 
reasons were of great weight with the parents of Mills 
Eaton in fixing his destination for that College. The 
first was that it was the institution in which his father 
had completed his education forty years before— grad- 
uating in the first class that was sent out from its 
homely walls. The second reason was that his moth- 
er's name, Canon, rested on the little burgh in which 
the College was located. 

Moreover, with its sister and friendly rival at Wash- 
ington, seven miles away, it had been for nearly half 
a century the very fortress and heart of that advanced 
and thoroughly Christian education in which the 
sturdy Presbyterianism of the rapidly growing West 
and South West took pride. 



38 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

His preparatory education had been thorough. He 
was not only a conscientious and faithful student, with 
a quick apprehension and an excellent memory for 
facts and principles, but he was an enthusiastic one. 
He was especially fond of the ancient classics — though 
later in his educational course he developed a strong 
talent for mathematics. He pored over his Virgil, 
Cicero and Horace, his Xenophon and Demosthenes, 
seeking out the exact and exquisite meanings hidden 
in the pages of those ancient authors, with the devo- 
tion and single-hearted earnestness of one who searches 
for hid treasures. And then he had a poetical tem- 
perament, and a taste for what was beautiful, expres- 
sive and musical in language. His translations were 
therefore models of pure, vigorous and rhythmic 
English. 

This was the student, with such mental qualities 
and equipment, sanctified by the unwavering faith and 
the earnest consecration of the practical Christian, 
who presented himself, in November, 1842, at the 
door of Jefferson College, for admission into the 
Sophomore Class. He found no difficulty in passing 
the required examinations and was duly matriculated 
— finding himself in a class of over forty members. 
He made a fine impression on his class-mates and fel- 
low-students. One of them writing about him forty- 
seven years afterwards says : "I remember Dr. Eaton 
as a brilliant student, especially gifted in mathematics 
and metaphysics — gentlemanly in his manners, very 
modest in his deportment, kind in his disposition, and 
popular in class and society." The same writer adds : 



College Life. 39 

" He was several years my senior, and he sometimes 
assumed a paternal air towards me, but it was always 
so kind as to completely win my heart. There were 
few in the class whom I esteemed more highly, and it 
gives me pleasure now to remember him among my 
most cherished College mates." 

During the three years he was in College, and also 
during the period of his Seminary life, Mr. Eaton 
kept a " Private Journal" of facts and experiences, 
making it especially a record of his thoughts and feel- 
ings. In a previous Journal, designated as No. 3*, 
he had noted his arrival in Canonsburgh, on Oct. 
31 — adding to the record: U I cannot write far- 
ther. My heart is full." Next day he was " lone- 
some, sick, miserable, wretched." The examinations 
are mentioned, and the entering upon his duties as a 
student, and the dragging of the heavy, dark, dispirit- 
ing November days — homesickness working its worst 
upon him. His first entry in his new Private Journal 
is of November 21, 3 842 — and runs as follows: 
u Yesterday I heard the Rev. Mr. Smith of Erie Pres- 
" bytery preach. It seemed like seeing a brother to 
" see one from near home. 'Home, sweet home!' 
" What enchantments cluster around the word ! For 
" in an instant it brings to mind mother and sister, 
" now far distant. 

'For never till the hour we roam, 

By worldly thralls oppressed, 
Learn we to prize that holiest home, 
A loving mothers breast.' " 



*This he had kept while a student at the Academy. 
The first and. second of the series have not been found. 



40 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" Yet would I not let these earthly ties, strong and 
" intense though they be, interfere with duty. For 
" the Savior says, 'He that loveth father or mother more 
11 than me, is not worthy of me.' The Lord is often 
" kind to me by revealing to me glimpses of Heaven 
" above." 

The plodding of his large Class, numbering 44, 
in studies that are easy work to his quick and well- 
disciplined mind, makes him restless. He is anxious 
to get on. Three years of this hum-drum work with 
mates many of whom are lazy and indifferent students, 
who are in college at all only because their hopeful 
parents have put them there, seems a long look ahead. 
So early as the 24th of November, but three weeks 
after he had entered College, we find him saying: "I 
" am in doubt whether to content myself in the 
" Sophomore Class, or to make an effort to overtake 
" the Juniors. If 1 do the latter, I fear it will be at 
" the expense of my scholarship ; and visions of glory 
" (earthly glory) sometimes cross my mind." These 
visions he resolutely thrusts aside. 

But the thought of lingering idly and uselessly on 
the way comes back to him. He is in his 23d year. 
If he is to be three years in College and then two 
years more in the Theological Seminary, he cannot 
enter upon his life work as a minister of the Gospel 
till he shall be well nigh thirty years of age. So he 
returns to the subject in his record of his thoughts 
and aspirations: "I have a strong desire," he says, 
" to finish my course of study as soon as possible. 



College Life. qr 

" But" — reason and conscience now begin to speak — 
" I wish to do what is right. May a kind providence 
11 direct me in the path of duty." Then, devout Cal- 
vinist that he is, the thought of God's all-controlling 
power and wisdom comes in, and he adds: " But 
u perhaps things are destined otherwise, — for 

1 God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform.' " 

At this time, when college life is still new to him, 
and he has a sense of isolation and loneliness, his re- 
cords continue to have a sad and melancholly cast. 
He bemoans his feelings, and laments his spiritual 
state. But he adds, " Would I feel so if I cared not 
u for the things of God ? 'By the grace of God T am 
" what I am.' ' Whom the Lord loveth he chasten- 
" eth.' If the Lord indeed loves me, then is chastise- 
" ment no longer grievous, if it fit me for his service. 
" But wo be to me if I improve not by it !" 

A few days afterwards he expresses himself as well 
contented with College life in some respects, yet it 
" ' w T ars against the soul.' In general, the situation of 
" a person at such a place is unfavorable to the growth 
"of grace in the soul. There are very few tempta- 
" tions to vanity here as far as outward appearance is 
" concerned. i Dandyism' is unknown. This is well. 
" Yet sin prevails. Vice abounds, and I fear ' the love 
" of many waxes cold.' 

" How lovely and pleasant it would be if all of the 
u young men gathered here from all parts of the 
" Union were bound together in the bonds of Christ. 



42 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

11 Then indeed would this institution be a living foun- 
11 tain, whence would issue streams of righteousness 
u which would i make glad the city of our God/ " 

From a record made on the last day of ihe year 
(1842) we learn that a year before he had thought 
himself very near to death. He had given up all 
hope of life and was resigned to God's will. "But in 
" mercy/' he says, " the Lord has brought me to see the 
" close of the year upon which I was then entering, in 
" the enjoyment of a reasonable degree of health and 
" strength. I have endeavored to take a review of 
" the past year, and in every line have read the mercy 
" and love God. But oh the sins, the fearful sins ! 
" How much need of the efficacy of atoning blood !" 

He continues these reflections, calling upon the all- 
wise and all merciful One from henceforth to be the 
Guide of his youth, his strength and his Redeemer. 
At 12 o'clock, as the New Year looks in upon him in 
his sombre little study, he writes: "Where shall I 
" be when the next year dawns upon me? It matters 
" not if I be found in the path of duty, doing the will 
" of God, promoting his honor and glory. Let me 
" hear the still small voice : 'Fear thou not for I am 
"with thee; be not dismayed for I am thy God.'" 
And then in earnest words, that meant to him just 
what they expressed, he adds : "I would renewedly 
" consecrate myself, soul and body, all I am and all I 
" hope to be, to his service, my Savior and my God. 
" Be thou my all in all." 

The most notable thing about these records of his 
early College days, after their strongly religious char- 



College Life. 43 

acter, is the spirit of sadness and loneliness that per- 
vades them. He seems to be isolated and solitary, — 
in the words of the Psalmist, he is "as a sparrow 
alone upon the house top." So far in his Journal he 
has mentioned by name no acquaintance he has made 
among his fellow-students. He seems to have shut 
himself up to his own thoughts and musings, and 
among his books in his own little room. 

For one who was so cheerful and companionable 
and such delightful company in his later years, it 
would seem that his trouble must have been physical 
rather than mental or spiritual. Who among the in- 
timate friends of Dr. Eaton, during the last thirty-five 
years of his life, could have believed that he was capa- 
ble of making such a record as the following concern- 
ing himself and his feelings when at College, in his 
twenty* third year, had he not set it down in black and 
white ? 

- "My heart is heavy — like lead within me. My 
u spirit is in bitterness, — the first relapse since I over- 
" came the first gloomy month of my residence here. 
li Alas, I feel miserable and wretched. The bitter- 
" ness of human life ! I feel persuaded that unless I 
11 can overcome this painful, aching sensation it will 
" undermine my constitution. Yes it is undermining 
u it now. Solomon says that 'by the sadness of the 
11 countenance the heart is made better/ But O it is a 
u blistering, corroding operation. Why is it so? My 
" bosom is bursting with anguish. Father in Heaven, 
" pity thy desponding, suffering creature, who fain 
11 would cast his burden upon thee ! Thou hast said, 



44 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" 'Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will an- 
" swer thee, and thou shalt glorify me/ O Lord, thou 
u art my hope and my trust. O hear me !" 

There is much more in this vein — the record of 
thoughts and feelings that evidently arise from the 
state of his health, together with that killing malady, 
homesickness, rather than from any real mental or re- 
ligious trouble. He even says in this pouring out of 
his sorrows, "Not that I have any particular darkness 
11 of soul — but a heavy sadness — a brooding melan- 

" choly I know not how these feel- 

" ings were first induced. They may be constitutional. 
"Certainly they have always been a 'thorn in my 
" side/ And this reminds me of the 'Apostle to the 
"Gentiles:' 'For this thing I besought the Lord 
" thrice/ &c, and the answer he received, 'My grace 
" is sufficient for thee/ O may it be the case with 
" me ! May his grace be sufficient for me/' 

It seems altogether proper that this record of his 
painful experience at this period should appear in a 
sketch of his life. For it was a part, and a very im- 
portant part, of the discipline thro' which he was pass- 
ing in preparation for the great work of ministering 
to others in which he was to spend his life. 

But the sore trial passes. Two weeks later he 
writes: "Last evening I had a delightful season at 
" the throne of grace — felt peace and pardon thro' 
" a crucified Redeemer. I felt as though my hope 
" was firm, on the 'Rock of Ages/" But again the 
"messenger of Satan" returns to buffet him. And 



College Life, 45 

he cries out : "Alas the canker of sin ! When shall 
14 sin be unknown ? Lord Jesus, set me free ! 

1 1 long to lay this painful head 

1 And aching heart beneath the soil ; 
4 To slumber in that dreamless bed 

From all my toil. 7 

u But I am too despondent. Perhaps it is sinful 

" thus to give up. Something whispers, 

1 — Live ! Thou shalt reach a sheltering port, 

A quiet home.'" 

The home-sick student, with his constant introspec- 
tion to ascertain his spiritual state, and many a cry to 
God for help and strength, followed by an inflowing of 
the light and joy of God's favor, at length came to the 
end of his first college term. College Life had not 
been to him quite what fancy had painted it. Altho' 
diligent in his studies and faithful to all his college 
duties, he seldom makes mention of these in his Jour- 
nal. At length the "winter was over and gone," and 
April days were at hand with bright suns and spring- 
ing grass and budding trees, and the Spring Vacation 
began. For in those early days the College sessions 
ran throughout the year, with the exception of a 
month's release in the spring and a little longer vaca- 
tion in the autumn. 

The term closed with "Exhibitions" of the two 
Literary Societies, the "Philo" and "Franklin;" and 
then with anticipations of pleasure and relaxation, the 
released student sets out on "a jaunt to spend the vaca- 
tion." There were no steam cars then to whirl him 
over the streams and among the lofty round-topped 



46 S 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

hills of Washington and Allegheny to smoky Pitts- 
burgh ; and the stage coach, at the season when the 
winter frosts were melting and frequent rains falling, 
was little more than a mud-boat on wheels, sure to 
get to its destination in safety if you gave it time 
enough. But motives of economy as well as speed 
ruled his thoughts. He therefore set out on foot, and 
on the evening of the second day, March 31st, he is 
able to make the record : "At Pittsburgh, after a 
11 wearisome journey of eighteen miles on foot, from 
11 motives of health and economy. Wet and muddy. 
" Feel rather dull and cold in the concerns of my 
"soul" — as well he might after such a tedious and 
wearisome journey. He had not yet learned to trace 
spiritual feelings to physical causes and conditions. 

Visiting at various places among congenial friends 
in "happy Christian families," where he received a 
cordial welcome ; travelling about, now on foot, now on 
horseback with a jolly party ascending a mountain or 
dashing over the level spaces ; anon on board a steam- 
boat on the river, in the midst of the whirl of busi- 
ness and travel ; visiting his mother's old home at 
"Laurel Hill" in Fayette County, and also at "Uncle 
Paul's," where he found a plenty to eat, well trained 
horses to ride, and young lady cousins as companions, 
— he was ready at the end of a month to start back to 
College in far better health and spirits then he was 
when he set out. On his return journey he again em- 
ployed the natural powers of locomotion that he him- 
self controlled. 



College Life. ^7 



Leaving the little town of " Monongahela City," on 
the river of the same name, he made the distance to 
Canonsburgh thro' rain and wind and over "roads not 
very good/' during the hours of an April afternoon ; 
" arriving at dark," he says, " glad and thankful to 
" the Giver of all good for all His mercies." 

At the opening of his second term as a Sophomore 
he left his domicil in town, and established himself in 
the country, at "Fort Campbell," as it was called in 
College parlance, a mile and a half from the College. 
" Motives of health and economy" again ruled him in 
making this change. College duties do not seem to 
have been very pressing at this time. For on the 
fourth day of the session he makes the record : 
"Not doing much these few days — reading 'Breck- 
inridge's Tour/ 'D' Aubigne's History of the Re- 
" formation/ with an occasional glance at Gray's 
" Poems. I love poetry yet, though I have ceased to 
" be a poet in practice." And then he adds — for 
thoughts of his spiritual state are never long absent 
from his mind : " I think it will be for the good of 
"my soul to live here in the retirement of the 
" country." 

He complains much of ill health during this ses- 
sion. May 13th he "felt very unwell — violent head- 
ache," June 1st. "Not well yet." June 18th. "Un- 
" well, very — listless, dull, wretched. Been unwell 
" for several days, taking medicine." O that they 
had had foot-ball, base-ball, rowing matches, gymna- 
sium exercises, — not to the wild excess of the present 
time, but enough for the better health and spirits of 



48 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

such quiet students as Mills Eaton. July 1st. "This 
" session is remarkably unhealthy. Quite a number of 
M the students have gone home from ill health. Mem- 
" bers of the Faculty all complaining too of languish- 
" ing. I fear that there is a corresponding languish- 
" ing in spiritual affairs." About this time a preva- 
lent "influenza" seized him, and then the mumps, 
which served to afflict him severely for two weeks. 

One of these weeks, apparently in honor of the 
great national event, the Declaration of Independence, 
was allowed to the students for a vacation. But our 
faithful student seems to rejoice that vacation time 
and his sickness were coincident, for he writes : 
u Fortunately we have now a vacation of one week in 
" College. Yet this will not suffice for me to re- 
" cover." 

Notwithstanding sickness, and frequent risings and 
fallings of his spiritual barometer, he finds "the ses- 
" sion is rapidly gliding away. ' Tempus fugit' in joy 
" or grief, in prosperity or adversity." 

The rare sight of a familiar face from near home, 
in the middle of the session and at the heart of the 
dog-days, filled him with keen delight. It was " like 
" seeing a brother almost in the land of strangers," 
is his note on the fact of James C. Reid of Erie call- 
ing upon him. 

The session now runs rapidly to a close. Ten days 
before the "Commencement" he moved back into the 
town, giving no reason in his Journal for the change; 
but remarking : " I think upon the whole boarding 
" in the country has been of service to me." 



College Life. 49 



The first " Commencement Exercises " he witnessed 
were of course a great novelty to him, and he gives a 
graphic account of them in a letter to one of his 
brothers : " Unless it be a ' Contest/ " he says, " there 
' is nothing more exciting and animating during the 
1 College year than the Commencement. The day 
' was fine, and one of the densest crowds you have 
' ever seen under one roof was congregated in the 
1 College Chapel. ... A committee of eight is 
' appointed from each society to keep order — called 
''the dog Committee.' The Faculty, Trustees and 
' Students proceed to the College, form in procession 
' and, with a band of music, march into town and in- 
' to the chapel. The ladies having previously assein- 
' bled, the men are kept out till the last. . . . 

u The Latin and Greek salutatory is always spoken 
' by the individual who received the first honor of 
' the Class. The Latin is an address to the Trustees, 
' the Greek to the Faculty. The English Salutatory 
' is to the audience. Then come the speeches, and 
' last is the Valedictory. It was a glorious perform- 
ance. . . It is a standing rule for the ladies to 
' cry during the delivery of the Valedictory, and he 
' who can draw the most tears is the most successful 
' performer. After this is the ceremony of conferring 
' the degrees on the class. Then follows the Bacca- 
laureate Address. After a recess, the annual ad- 
dress is delivered to the two Societies." 
We have thus followed Mr. Eaton through the ups 
and downs, the joys and sorrows, of his first year of 
College Life, making him in the main his own histor- 



5 o S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

ian. The story has shown his fidelity, his persistence 
of purpose, his sincerity with himself, especially in all 
matters pertaining to soul-culture, the state of bis 
heart, and his daily life and conduct. 

We have found him an unrelenting inquisitor in all 
matters relating to himself; and although it is evident 
that his feelings were affected, to some extent, by the 
state of his health, and by the home-sickness natural 
to a home-loving young man when he finds himself 
for the first time far from home and among strangers ; 
yet there is the tug of spiritual conflict. Like St. 
Paul, he could say, "I see another law in my members 
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me 
into captivity to the law of sin which is in my mem- 
bers." This conflict he endured bravely and manfully 
till at length he was able to say with the struggling 
but triumphant Apostle, " Thanks be to God who 
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

After a five weeks' vacation, spent for the most part 
among friends in and about Pittsburgh, our student, 
now a Junior, enters upon his second year, apparently 
in improved health and spirits. He is glad to be at 
work again. "We are so constituted," he writes at 
the opening of the session, "that we need some incite- 
u ment to urge us onward, and during vacation this 
" incitement is wanting. I have not even read much 
" that is of account — light reading and writing and 
" loafing have constituted the sum total of my labors." 

The earnestness of his religious life has not at all 
abated, although the cloud of melancholy, which had 
often in the past year rested upon his spirits, seems to 



College Life. 5/ 

have lifted. "I feel as though God" — thus runs one 
of his first records at this period — " has blessed me for 
11 some time past. The smiles of his love have been 
" granted unto me. How much I wish that a deep 
u feeling of the presence of God might ever remain 
" with me I believe it is a duty, incumbent on every 
" child of God, to grow in grace, to improve in piety. 
11 Not that any one can do this in his own unaided 
" strength. Alas, no! But, 'Faithful is He that 
" calleth you, who also will do it/ " 

His impatience to get on with his studies again 
breaks out. "Two years more to complete my 
" course," he exclaims. " Shall I ever graduate ! 'O 
11 Lord, thou knowest,' and that is sufficient for me." 

He is living at this time on the College premises, 
and has a room to himself. He likes this because it is 
" more quiet and better calculated for study. But the 
" most important advantage is that the duties of pri- 
" vate devotion are not interfered with. Prayer is the 
" life of the soul." 

He mourns over the lack of home news. The 
home magnet has lost none of its power to him. "I 
" have not heard from home for two months," he says 
to his confidential little Private Journal, apparently 
the most intimate friend he has at College. "My 
" other correspondents are. very faithful. I love an 
"animated correspondence, where there are i thoughts 
" that breathe and words that burn/" 

Shortly after this time he notes the receipt of a let- 
ter from his father. "All well at home," he tells his 
Journal. "This comforts me." It appears to have 



52 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

taken ten days, in those slow-coach times in Post 
Office business, for that letter to reach him from its 
date at Fairview on November 8th, 1843, and the en- 
ergetic Department charged 12 J cents — "a shilling" — 
for carrying it. This letter receives from the dutiful 
son an almost immediate answer — one of the few let- 
ters to his father that have survived the vicissitudes 
and wreck of nearly half a century. It is mainly occu- 
pied with home and college matters. He returns many 
thanks for a remittance; and adds reflectively that 
" though the love of money may be a 'root of evil/ 
"yet the possession of a little is occasionally a great 
" convenience." 

The subject of Temperance was then as now one of 
the burning issues of the day, at least in the churches ; 
for speaking of a relative of his father's, a minister of 
the Gospel, who was about to give up his charge, he 
says: "He has been influenced to the step by several 
" reasons. The reason he gives the church is inade- 
" quacy of support. But his chief reason is, he thinks 
" his Session are not with him. A majority of the 
" Session are hostile to Temperance, — among them 
" your quondam class-mate Dr. P. The whole Session 
" are much behind the times both in feeling and 
11 action." 

He gives an inside glimpse of College matters in 
the following paragraph : "This session our Class 
" numbers forty. Our studies are Young's Trigonom- 

" etry and Philosophy (Natural) We do 

" not study Philosophy after the old plan, but mathe- 
" matically. In fact there is almost as much mathe- 



College Life. 53 



u matics in our Philosophy as in the mathematical 
11 text- books themselves. We have a respectable ac- 
11 cession of new students this session — upwards of 
"fifty; and a majority of them enter the regular 
" classes. The 'Ohio University' has lately become 
" defunct, and we have ten or twelve of their students. 
" The consequence of all this is that Dr. Brown 
"preaches better than usual. For his sermons de- 
" pend in a great degree on the state of the College. 
" . . . . . Our two literary societies are just 
" now engaged as if in a death struggle, electioneering. 
11 among the new students I do not yet know which 
" will get the most. I will do your society the justice 
" to say that they have a few the most members at the 
" present time, though without saying anything about 
" the quality of the members, — our society lost so 
" many in the last Senior Class, as two-thirds of them 
"were'Philos.'" 

To those who have seen and heard the veteran 
Chinese Missionary, Dr. Happer, in meetings of the 
General Assembly, or on other occasions, it will be 
interesting to read this note in the Private Journal 
under date of November 20th, 1843 — forty-seven years 
ago: "This evening heard an address from Mr* 
u Happer, a young minister who is soon to go to 
"China as a Missionary. His subject was, 'The 
" Chinese Empire — its moral condition and prospects/ 
" It was good to hear him. His appeal to the students 
" was affecting and constraining. He is willing to 
" leave all and go far hence. He told us his trials 
" and struggles and hopes. — O Lord, what wilt thou 



54 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



" have me to do? I fear I have of late lost sight of 
" the subject too much. Once it was my delight and 
" my prayer to be a Foreign Missionary. I pray God 
" to direct me in the right way. Send me where thou 
" wouldst have me to go. O let me know what is 
duty, and give me strength to perform it." 

A few weeks after another young minister, the Rev. 
Hugh Brown, who expected within a few months to 
go as a Missionary to China, preached in the chapel- 
This stirred his earnest Christian heart anew, anxious 
to know what the path of duty was for him. Must 
not the inheritor of the consecrated name of Samuel 
John Mills honor that name by entering upon the 
same great work in which he had laid down his life? 
" I do not feel easy on this matter," he writes, Feb'y 
19th, 1844, after listening to Mr. Brown. "It seems 
" at times I hear the inquiry, ■ Who will go?' I trust 
" I am willing to do what is duty. I pray the Lord 
" to make the path of duty plain before me. Let me 
11 in this short life labor for God, for I can do but lit- 
" tie at best. Let me keep my vows sacredly. The 
" work of a Foreign Missionary is a laborious work, 
" and needs men of strong constitutions and persever- 
ance. I trust these considerations would not deter 
" me, if I thought the Lord called me. Even the 
" martyr's crown is a tempting reward of faithfulness." 

The winter session runs rapidly along to its close. 
Faithful study, spiritual anxiety, or anon rejoicing, 
literary recreation with his pen, — for he had been for 
several years a contributor to one of the newspapers 
near his old home — waiting upon a sick class-mate, 



College Life. 55 

reading, writing letters, — all intermingled with the 
distractions and exactions of student life, fill up com- 
pletely the faithful student's days and nights. 

Another vacation is upon him. Shall he spend it in 
the quiet cloisters of the deserted College? Or shall 
he make a pilgrimage to his loved and longed for 
home on Lake Erie, and breathe its fresh breezes once 
more, and kiss his dear mother, and spend a few days 
among the friends and delightful scenes of his boy- 
hood ? Or shall he again roam over the hills of 
Washington aud Allegheny ? 

He endured the loneliness of the deserted campus 
and empty halls for two or three weeks, and then set 
out for Pittsburgh and Armstrong county. After ten 
days spent "comfortably and agreeably" among his 
friends, he returned to Canonsburgh — a glad to see the 
old College again." 

At the beginning of the summer session we get an- 
other inside look into College life in his day, through 
a letter to his youngest brother Isaac. 

May 22d, 1844. 

" The College is again 

" in successful operation. Things look as of old, — 
" the loafing propensities of human nature are smoth- 
u ered, and the ennui of vacation is forgotten. Al- 
" most all the students have returned, and a much 
" larger number of new ones than usual are on the 
" ground. Last spring we had twenty ; now we have 
" between forty-five and fifty. The consequence of 
" this is that Dr. Brown is on his high-heeled boots. 
" I hope he has received such an impetus as will keep 



56 S. y. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" hioa in a respectable humor all session. He serves 
" as a kind of Collegiate barometer. From his tem- 
" per and feelings you can easily determine the state 
11 of the institution. 

" The engrossing business of the session thus far 
" has been electioneering for ' Society' interests among 
" the new students. The destiny of the nation is 
" nothing compared with this. The members of each 
" Society say that they can tell from the appearance of 
" a new student what Society he will enter. The 
" l Franks' say that every fop and southerner is sure to 
" enter the 'Philos.' The 'Philos' say that every 
" greenhorn, and every Mercer and Butler county 
" man, is a proper subject for the operation of Frank- 
il linism. There is one good effect that this election- 
" eering system has, namely, more attention is paid to 
" new-comers ; and thus the bitterness of the stranger's 
" lot is in some measure softened. Every kindness is 
" lavished upon the new candidates, until they connect 
" themselves with the Jews or Gentiles — when 'the 
" love of many waxes cold/ This is the way with 
a the world. This accursed spirit of selfishness will 
" insinuate itself into all our affairs, and even mingle 
" with our pleasures." 

After speaking of many things of a more especially 
personal and private character, he says in conclusion : 
" I shall look anxiously for the close of this session ; 
" for then, if nothing interferes, I shall set my face 
" homewards. It is not because I do not care for 
" friends and home that I have not been that way be- 
" fore this. Even though I had not a friend on earth, 



College Life. 57 

" my natal soil would attract me thither with as re- 
" sistless an impulse as that of the needle to the pole. 
" It was kind in our Maker to give us such ties to 
" molffy and sweeten life's pilgrimage — to encourage 
" us on our way over this world's ' broad field of bat- 
" tie/ If man were a solitary, isolated being, where 
" would be his ambition? What would stimulate 
11 him to exertion ?" 

The summer session passes without any notable in- 
cident. Now and then in his Journal he makes re- 
port of the spiritual conflict in which he is still en- 
gaged, now triumphing in faith and hope and u re- 
joicing in the Lord/' now defeated and despondent 
and filled with doubts and fears. " Finished reading 
" the Bible through in course the sixth time — yet I 
" fear I am lamentably ignorant of its sacred con- 
" tents," is his record on June 23d, 1844. "Without 
"the assistance of the Blessed Spirit," he adds, "all 
" is vain. Lord, teach me and lead me in the way 
" everlasting !" 

A visit during the brief mid-summer vacation to 
friends near Braddock's Field, on the Monongahela 
River, including a ramble over that famous battle- 
ground, brought him to the beginning of the hot 
home-stretch in his second year at College. His talks 
with his little Private Journal are few during this 
term. Reticence and privacy were characteristics of 
his religious life at this period. He would make no 
show of his religion, but kept it veiled in the presence 
of on r lookers. Hence we find him saying, "My great- 
" est sin this session is that I restrain prayer. I have 



58 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" a room-mate, which destroys my privacy, and too 
" often affords me an excuse for putting off this boun- 
u den duty. Prayer is the Christian's armor, and not 
" only his armor but his very life. Why then do I 
" neglect it? O my God, forgive me that I neglect 
" this most precious privilege. O for more holiness of 
"heart — a more humble, teachable disposition! I 
" wish I could hate sin more, and love the world less." 

Near the end of this second session of his Junior 
year falls another letter to his youngest brother, which 
tells of bis necessary economy in College, and other 
matters of interest in the microcosm of College Life. 
" I have tried to be economical this session," he 
writes; "to what purpose you must judge. But in 
" order to judge with correctness, you must come here 
" and stay a year. You will read in the Catalogue 
" about living on Fifty or One Hundred dollars a 
" year. Now Dr. Brown is not fair about this matter. 
" He means simply boarding and tuition for ten 
" months, leaving out vacation, books, and the thous- 
" and and one little et ceteras, which are not only con- 
" venient but necessary. Many a poor soul is most 
" wofully ( drawed,' as they say here, by coming on 
" and expecting to live on faith and expectation ; but 
" instead he finds his calculations fall short by more 
u than one-half. This is one of the first lessons learn- 
" ed on coming here." 

The "Senior Examination," with the "honors" be- 
stowed, and the one month's vacation following, was 
the thing of greatest moment at this time, and- as a 
Junior he feels at liberty, in this home letter, to give 



College Life. S9 

his views freely on Seniors, the worth of College 
Honors, &c. : " There will be a grand ' spree' after 
11 the examination closes and the l honors' are award- 
11 ed. It is considered one of the perquisites of a 
" Senior after his examination to get excited, — if not 
" naturally, then by artificial means. — The fjrst honor 
" this fall will be taken by Monsieur Elliott, of 
" Clarion County. The Valedictory will likely fall to 
" a Steubenville man. These honors may seem trifling 
11 to you, but there are enough to grasp at them and, 
4t if successful, to wear them as a proud trophy. Yet 
" on the whole they are an empty thing. They will 
" not extend beyond the walls of the College, and will 
" not raise a man more than one round on the ladder 
11 of fame even there." 

There began to be talk at this time about changing 
the time of the vacations. u If it should be accom- 
" plished," he says, " our class will graduate next 
u July. I hope it will be brought about. It has been 
11 adopted in almost all the Eastern institutions. The 
u plan will be to have a short vacation about Xew 
" Year's, and then one of two months in July and 
" August. This would be grand !" But the change 
was not inaugurate3 in his day at College, nor for 
several years afterwards. 

At last the first day of the Fall vacation dawns, 
and Mills Eaton turns his face Northward and sets 
out for his long waited for visit home. A continuous 
absence for almost two years has not weakened in the 
least his attachment for the spot where he was born, 
or for the mother and father and other dear friends 



60 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

there. In no simulated words, or merely rhetorical 
phrase, does he make the record in his Journal, on the 
26th of September : " This afternoon, with feelings of 
" O how much joy, I left for home. I always wish to 
" write that sweet word in letters of gold. There are 
" sweetness and rapture in its sound — there is magic 
" in its spell — there are feelings and emotions in its 
11 contemplation akin to those of Heaven. Heaven is 
" called 'the home of the righteous.' O if through a 
11 miracle of sovereign grace it should be my home, how 
" sweet will be my rest ! There will be no sundering 
" of ties there — there will be no longing after home — 
" there will be no farewells to be spoken." 

Leaving Pittsburgh by stage-coach, after a weary 
rocking and pitching for forty hours, as if on a 
muddy ocean, he came in sight, as the lumbering ve- 
hicle gained the summit of famous "Nicholson's 
Hill," of the blue Lake of his boyhood, stretching 
along the whole Northern and Western horizon. 
They rolled quickly over the three miles of smoother 
descending road intervening, and were deposited at 
the entrance of the Reed House in Erie. A few hours 
later he had made his way ten miles further west over 
what was called the " Great Eastern and Western 
Ridge Road" — famous still as one of the finest 
thoroughfares in all the land, — and was at home! 

His pleasure in this first visit home since setting 
out for College two years before was very great. He 
simply says briefly, " My feelings and emotions I will 
" not attempt to describe." He found his father, how- 
ever, much changed. His health had given way, and 



College Life. 61 



u his mind had suffered with his body; yet in all his 
"religious exercises there was so much of fervor and 
" deep engagedness that it was good to hear him." 

The vacation ran to its end very rapidly. Every 
hour seemed one of deep enjoyment, spent in the dear 
home of his childhood and boyhood. 

He returned to the College through Ohio, stopping 
at his brother Johnston's on the way, and reaching 
Canonsburgh on the 8th of November, "glad to see 
" the old place and old friends once more." He 
makes few notes of experiences and happenings dur- 
ing the session. There is a stir of interest in the 
early days of February, when Dr. Breckinridge of 
Kentucky arrived for the purpose of looking over the 
ground with a view of taking charge of the College 
as its President. " He is doubtless " — runs the re- 
cord our " Senior " makes concerning him — "one of 
" the greatest of living divines. I was very much 
" disappointed in his appearance and manner, though 
" the disappointment was an agreeable one. He is 
" about five feet eleven in height, and strongly made ; 
" and were it not for the sweet, calm cast of his coun- 
" tenance, he would have more of the brigand in his 
" appearance than of the minister. He preached 
" some sweet discourses for us." 

In a pleasant letter to his brother Johnston, dated 
May 29th, 1845, the student, now well entered upon 
the last session of his last year at College, tells of an 
excursion into the mountains of Fayette, taken dur- 
ing the April vacation, for the purpose of exploring a 
cave nearly a mile in extent. Equipped with twine, 



62 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

candles, matches, &c., he and his comrades set out ap- 
parently in high spirits. But there was one omission 
in their outfit which they had reason to regret before 
their excursion was over. Perhaps the "Pic-nic" had 
not yet been invented. 

Having set out early, they expected to complete 
their exploration and return in time for dinner. 
Mountain excursions are often deceptive as to the 
amount of time and labor they involve. u We found 
" the cave," says the writer of the letter, "after some 
" difficulty, spent some time in its subterranean 
"caverns, and then set out to return. We soon lost 
" our path and wandered through bushes, scaled 
" rocks, precipices and hills, right in the heart of the 
" mountains, until we were about to give up conquer- 
'' ed. When about dusk some good angel led us out. 
" We arrived in town by dark, our horses nearly worn 
" out with fatigue, and our stomachs in an extremely 
" dilapidated condition. We discussed the merits of 
" some shad, but one day out of the water, with appro- 
" priate 'fixings/ and then retired to dream about the 
" genius of the woods and the mountain fairies that 
u had imperceptibly led us astray." 

He notes in the same letter the fact that Dr. Robert 
J. Beckinridge was to take charge of the College as 
its President at the opening of the next College year. 

Two pages of the little Private Journal proved suffi- 
cient for his records from February 3d to September 
28th, 1845. So meagre are these that he feels obliged 
to apologize to the little book for his neglect of it. 
" I hardly know why," he writes— and this was near 



College Life. 6j 

the beginning of the session; " but of late this Jour- 
14 nal has had but few entries. Not because I have 
44 had nothing to write, certainly ; for lifers little lines 
44 have been checkered as usual with clouds and shad- 
44 ows, as well as the tints of hope and love." Later 
he writes : " This session, with the blessing of God, 
" will be my last at College. Not that I am weary of 
44 College Life as such, but because I am anxious to 
44 attend to something else." 

On September 28th he makes a final record; and we 
can almost hear him shout as he writes the words, 
11 Eureka ! Eureka ! ! The goal is won. I am free. — 
11 Leaving, borne down with the weight of a, Diploma. 7 ' 

44 Yes, my college days have now closed, and I am 
14 to go forth upon the tide of a restless world. I have 
" seen my class-mates for the last time, and bid them 
" farewell. Many of them I shall meet no more until 
" we all meet before the bar of God." 

" I have felt very sad at the prospect of seeing so 
44 many dear friends no more. But this is a world of* 
" sundered ties and broken bonds. We only meet to 
14 part. We only rejoice in order that we may weep 
" the more bitterly. In heaven we shall meet never to 
"part." 

It seems hardly credible to learn, as we do from Mr. 
Eaton's statement of his expenses, that the entire cost 
of his College course of three years was but $575, 
"which includes everything," he says, "after I left 
44 home the first time — clothing, traveling expenses, 
&c." Less than $200 a year for all the outlay of a 
college course ! What would some of our Yale, or 



64 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

Harvard, or Princeton bloods think of that in these 
days? — and most of them carrying away less in their 
heads than did Mills Eaton and others, his faithful 
fellow-students. 

On the day following his graduation he takes a 
brief retrospect of his career while at College, which 
may fittingly close this chapter of his life : 

" Thus have three years of College Life passed. It 
il seems, to look back upon it, like a long golden 
" dream. True, it is a life of labor and vexation and 
" toil ; yet it is full of romance — full of gay and 
" gaudy images of enjoyment. Many an intellectual 
" feast have I enjoyed at 'old Jefferson.' Many ar- 
u dent friendships I have formed, and O, I thank my 
" God! but few enemies have I made. One student 
" in another class below me alone was not my friend 
" — on speaking terms. This I regret; but for it I 
" solemnly say, now when free from passion, that the 
" blame was wholly with him. May his and my 
" Maker forgive him his bitter and foolish wrong." 

To the last day of his College Life he was still ten- 
der in conscience and anxious about the state of his 
heart, and deeply mourned, as he writes, that he had 
not lived more near to God. "There is so much ex- 
" citement, scheming and planning, which seems neces- 

" sary too So much company and so little 

" solitude are dangerous to the life of the soul. But 
" now, O Lord," he devoutly pleads, in closing this 
chapter of his life — " ' from henceforth wilt thou not 
u be my God and the guide of my youth?' 



College Life. 65 



1 Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, 
Pilgrim thro 1 this barren land ; 
I am weak but thou art mighty — 
Hold me by thy powerful hand.' " 



Since Dr. Eaton's death a letter, written by one of 
his College friends,* has come into the hands of the 
writer, giving so just an estimate of his qualities as a 
man of taste and literary culture, that it may be ap- 
propriately added to the sketch of his College Life : 

" Dr. S. J. M. Eaton was my college fellow, but not 
class-mate, at Jefferson College. I entered the Junior 
Class in October, 1844. He graduated in September, 
1845. Not being class-mates* and our boarding places 
being widely separated, our opportunities for intimate 
personal acquaintance were limited. What acquaint- 
ance 1 had was formed at the weekly meetings of the 
Philo Literary Society of which we were members, 
and where I learned to know and esteem him for his 
high accomplishments and many virtues. As a writer 
of taste and elegance he held a first rank among his 
associates, among whom were a number of brilliant 
stars. We parted at the Commencement of 1845, and 
I did not again meet him until June, 1885, at the 
Commencement of Washington and Jefferson College, 
whereat I had the honor to address the Alumni, and 
then took occasion to express my high estimate of 
Dr. Eaton. 

"After the lapse of so many years, and our ac- 
quaintance so limited, I do not feel able, or competent, 

♦Judge W. H. West, Bellefontaine, Ohio. 



66 S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

to give any sketch of his character worthy of place in 
his annals, without resorting to fancy, which I am sure 
would not be desired. One of the honorary positions 
conferred by the Literary Society was that of Histor- 
ian, the duties of which required the bringing up of the 
history of the Society from its foundation, and was al- 
ways conferred on the member whose classical and 
literary attainments were regarded as of the first rank. 
The honor of preparing an historical sketch of the 
Society was bestowed on Dr. Eaton; the duties of 
which he discharged with great credit to himself and 
satisfaction to his fellows. 

"An amusing anecdote might be related of him 
when presiding officer of the Society. Plagiarism 
was, by a law of the Society, regarded as a misdemean- 
or, punishable by censure. A young member read a 
most elegant essay which bespoke for him great prom- 
ise. Unfortunately, however, Mr. W. of Virginia, 
happening a day or two later in the room of the mem- 
ber, discovered a periodical published in Cincinnati 
which contained the essay verbatim. He was report- 
ed, arraigned, duly tried and convicted. It devolved 
on the presiding officer to administer the censure, 
which Dr. Eaton proceeded to do with amusing gravi- 
ty, concluding with the admonition, " Young friend, 
go and sin no more." 

" Since our meeting in 1885 some of our noted fel- 
lows have fallen, not the least distinguished among 
them being Dr. Eaton. To me intelligence of his 
death brought a peculiarly poignant sorrow. He was 
especially active in 1885, without solicitation or expec* 



College Life. 6y 

tation on my part, in procuring the highest honorary 
degree of our venerable college to be conferred on me. 
The surprise was not greater than the gratification, and 
bound me to Dr. Eaton with hooks of steel. Accept 
from me this, my expression of sorrow, as the only re- 
ward I can now render him." W. H. W. 



— ei^gAg^su- 



CHAPTER IV. 
TEACHER AND SEMINARY STUDENT. 

Although in haste to reach the goal of his hopes 
and plans, the Gospel Ministry, and chafing, even dur- 
ing his first year in College, as he took the long look 
ahead and saw the space that lay before him, Mr. 
Eaton now finds, as he goes forth, " borne down with 
the weight of a College Diploma," that he must pause 
for a while to strengthen, as it were, "the sinews of 
war." The home resources had been closely drained. 
Aid, which he had received from the Board of Educa- 
tion in the earlier part of his course (money which in 
after years he fully refunded), was relinquished at the 
beginning of the year 1845. He must do something 
to provide funds for the two years' course in the Theo- 
logical Seminary which still lay before him. So with 
regret that he must turn aside from the straight path 
to the pulpit that for many years he had seen stretch- 
ing on before him, yet, with a resolute heart, he put 
himself to the task of providing the means for his 
further and necessary preparation. 

The great resource of all such bright and scholarly 
young men — and in those days it was an almost un- 
failing one — was teaching. A graduate of Jefferson 
or Washington College, if his character was good and 
his scholarship thorough, was quite sure to find a 



Teacher and Seminary Student. 6g 

school among the staunch Presbyterians of Kentucky, 
or in one of the States further south or south-west. 
Such a position had come to the knowledge of Mr. 
Eaton during his last College term. Writing to his 
father in June he sets forth some of the advantages to 
himself, beside the important pecuniary ones, of paus- 
ing in his career to teach for a year or two. "It 
"would give me," he says, "a better knowledge of 
11 the world and of human nature, as well as improve 
" me by reviewing my studies. Somehow I feel as 
" though I needed something to give more stability, or 
" manly dignity. I feel too boyish and student-like 
" for public life, On the other hand I would be a 
" year longer in obtaining a profession " — he means of 
course the Gospel Ministry; for he had thought of no 
other profession. "I am almost old enough now to 
11 enter a profession, — I mean old enough according to 
" the measure of years, however I may be in other re- 
" spects. Looking at it in this light I have no time 
" to lose." 

He then speaks of the situation which he finally 
accepted, in a family where he would have six pupils, 
with a salary of $300 a year — board, washing and all 
such necessary things being provided. The location 
was very desirable, being on the Ohio River, a few 
miles above Maysville, Ky. He was influenced the 
more to accept the position because he would have 
much leisure time which he could employ in the study 
of Hebrew and Church History — the principal studies 
of the first year in the Seminary ; and this he thought 
might still enable him to graduate in two years. 



70 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

After pondering the question of his duty deeply, 
and consulting with ministerial friends belonging to 
the Erie Presbytery, he resolved to accept the situa- 
tion. The day after famous Commencement Day, on 
which he bore his part with conspicuous honor, he 
left the old college town, where he had spent many 
pleasant and not a few sad days, with something of 
the same tugging at the heart that he felt on leaving 
home three years before. For "locality," as the phre- 
nologists call it, was strongly developed in him — a 
trait that is strongest in the finest natures. It has its 
cruel fruit of homesickness, when the tie that binds 
must be severed; but all our affections must bear a 
similar pain when their object is withdrawn beyond 
our reach. 

He took the steamer at Pittsburgh and reached his 
destination, Vanceburgh, Ky., a hamlet on the Ohio 
River, 80 miles above Cincinnati, on the 7th of Octo- 
ber. It was a private school that he was to take 
charge of, as we have already seen ; and the family in 
which he resided were kind, and made their house a 
real home to him. He was taken ill with a fever 
shortly after entering upon his duties, which were con- 
sequently interrupted for several weeks ; and he has 
occasion to' record "the parental kindness and care" 
bestowed upon him by the father and mother of the 
family. Thereafter he devoted himself conscientious- 
ly and faithfully to the work of his school, which 
proved of great benefit to himself as well as his 
pupils. 



Teacher a7id Seminary Student. 71 

It is very interesting to take up some of the letters 
of this observant and thoughtful student and teacher, 
penned nearly fifty years ago, and pick out here and 
there facts and suggestions about men and things in 
that early time, and to think how God was quietly 
leading him on and preparing him to enter that broad 
field of usefulness in the church which he afterwards 
filled so faithfully and so well. After a visit to Cin- 
cinnati, which he could easily reach by steamboat at 
any time, he writes to his father of what he had seen 
and learned : 

11 It is truly a great city — population estimated at 
" 90,000. I spent the Sabbath there. Attended the 
" church of Dr. Rice the great debater.* I was much 
u pleased with him, though he is by no means an ora- 
" tor. His style is perhaps too argumentative for a 
" popular preacher. Not but that argument and logic 
" are absolutely necessary to good preaching, but if 
" they are carried too far they weary the attention of 
" the common hearer 

" Cincinnati is a far handsomer city than Pitts- 
" burgh; but it has its scenes of suffering and trouble. 
u It is said that contact with the world has a harden- 
11 ing influence upon the sensibilities. But it is not 
" the case with me. The more I see of the world and 
" its misery, the more am I inclined to pity and 
" relieve." 



*The reference is to the debate, quite famous at that 
time, between Dr. Rice and Alexander Campbell on 
Baptism, &c. 



J2 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

He incidentally refers in one of his letters to the 
character of the mail service in that ancient time. 
He had sent a communication to a newspaper in Erie 
which he had been accustomed to favor occasionally 
with the products of his pen. "I mailed it," he says, 
" on the 18th of December, and it was not received 
" till two weeks after the proper time ; so that it must 
" have been wandering through some part of infinite 

" space for about four weeks." " What 

do you think of the Oregon matter?" he says in a 
letter to his father. — This was in the days when 
11 Phifty-Phour-Phorty-or-Phight" was a party slogan 
for political effect. "It is a pity," he says — answer- 
ing his own question — "it is a pity that some of our 
" Congressmen could not have a little fighting to do 
" on their own account." 

Always thinking of others as well as himself, and 
concerned for* their welfare, he says of one of his 
cousins who was going to school : "I am glad to hear 
" that A. is still attending to his studies. I would 
" like to see him go to College. He can graduate at 
" an earlier age than I did, and being rather a quiet 
" boy would not run much risk of being spoiled. No 
" one ought to dream of going to College before he is 
" eighteen or nineteen. I understand those matters." 

This is a remark well worth heeding by those who 
have sons whom they intend to send to college. Let 
them wait till the gristle of character and good habits 
begins to harden into bone. It pays to wait, however 
bright and forward the boy is. 



Teacher and Seminary Student. yj 

Mr. Eaton missed greatly while at Vanceburgh the 
church-going privileges to which he had been accus- 
tomed all his life. Speaking of hearing Dr. Rice 
preach while on his visit to Cincinnati, he remarks : 
" It was the first sermon I have heard for the last 
11 three months. Truly this is a barren land !" 

He found time hanging rather heavily on his hands, 
at times, on this large Kentucky farm, with few and 
distant neighbors; where corn was raised by the thous- 
and bushels, and hundreds of "grunters" strolled about 
or wallowed in their styes, with nothing to do but to 
"eat and grow fat" for the Cincinnati market. There 
was company with the five or six active boys, his pu- 
pils> when off duty, if he wished to go rabbit-coursing 
with them in the season ; or paddle a boat on the river 
which flowed by the door, and try for fish ; or ride a 
horse at break-neck speed around the farm ; or watch 
the negroes as they lazily lounged about, or as lazily 
hoed the corn and mowed the grass and chopped the 
wood for the winter fire. 

And there was home-like comfort in the family 
where he resided, and agreeable society on an occasion- 
al visit to a neighbor's, where there were young ladies 
— one plain and matter-of-fact, and the other " poeti- 
cal as a spring morning ; " with visiting cousins from 
Virginia, who claimed relationship by a collateral 
branch with the " Father of his country." There 
were these amusements and social enjoyments, that 
made his isolated life less unbearable. Yet home- . 
sickness would seize him, and ennui afflict, and the 
longing for the end of his preparatory career come 



74 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

back upon him with renewed power; and he would be 
almost driven at times to board the first boat going 
Northward and return to the land of his nativity. 
But he persevered — resolutely keeping himself at 
work, studying and teaching and thinking and read- 
ing, and time passed on, though at a pace slow and 
heavy enough. 

His Private Journal is still continued, but at 
dates few and far between. He makes a record of 
gratitude to God for his goodness, on New Year's day, 
and again on his Birth-day, April 15th ; but in both 
instances there is a tinge of sadness in the retrospect. 
The Fourth of July he spent in Maysville, where 
there was a celebration, and then visited the "Blue 
Lick Spring" — "the most classic and interesting spot 
" in Kentucky," he writes, "as well as a very fashion- 
" able ' watering-place/ This Spring has been the re- 
" sort for man and beast for long ages — perhaps ever 
" since the deluge. The soil is literally worn away by 
" the tread of beasts, coming from all quarters to par- 
" take of its waters ; and this for miles in all directions. 
" It was the scene too of the most sanguinary battles, 
" which have given to this State the name of 'the 

" dark and bloody ground/ 

" I was highly delighted with my short stay 
11 at Blue Lick, and felt that I could have remained 
" there a whole season without becoming weary. 

From the "Blue Licks" he went to Lexington, 
which he pronounces a " beautiful city, surpassing for 
situation and appearance" all other towns he had 
ever visited. Of course when at Lexington he did 



Teacher and Seminary Student. 75 

not fail to visit "Ashland," the home of Henry Clay, 
then just past the meridian of his greatness as an 
American Statesman. He had the pleasure of meet- 
ing him, and found him "a plain and unostentatious 
"farmer. In this light he is equally as worthy of 
" honor as though he were presiding over the destiny 
" of a nation" — referring to his defeat two years be- 
fore as the Whig candidate for the Presidency. 

He is glad as the time approaches for leaving his 
school and turning his face Northward, — and delight- 
ed that his pocket is heavier by nearly three hundred 
dollars than it was when he came a stranger into the 
hospitable home of Mr. and Mrs. Hanson, 

His trip Northward was not dangerous, but tedious 
in the extreme; an account of which he gives, a few weeks 
afterwards, in a very pleasant letter from the Seminary 
at Allegheny to his brother Isaac. "As I reached my 
"native State," he writes, "I felt almost like the 
" ocean-tossed mariner after a voyage of storms and 
" perils as he sets foot upon terra firma. Kentucky, 
" with all her scenes of grandeur and glory — her 
" rocks and vales, her gorgeous sunsets and silver 
" moon- lights, her chivalrous sons and almost ethereal 
" daughters, is not sufficient to win me from home and 
" the land of my birth. But this is not what I want- 
" ed to talk about. I left my friends in Kentucky on 
" the 24th of September, and took steamboat at Mays- 
" ville. We had a long and tedious voyage to this 
" place, — nearly five days, owing to the low stage of 
" water. We were thirty-six hours coming from 
u Beaver up, — ran out of fuel and provisions. Freez- 



y6 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" ing and starvation, you know, are not elements of 
" happiness. We sent to Pittsburgh for supplies. 

fcl I arrived home on the 29th, and was not long in 
u establishing myself on this famous hill. I have 
" been on my lofty perch for two weeks and am com- 
" fortably fixed. I will not say this was the case from 
" the beginning, for 'the blues' annoyed me no little. 
u This is one reason why I did not write sooner. I 
11 feared it would have been like the old Prophet's 
a scroll — 'filled within and without with lamentation 
" and mourning and woe;' for I am so much the crea- 
'• ture of habit that the breaking up of old associations 
" and habits and the forming of new is anything but 
" agreeable to my feelings. Now, however, it is all 
" over, and I am at ease. In the absence of Dr. Mc- 
" Gill our only study is Hebrew, and Dr. Green is 
" our Professor. When Dr. McGill returns we shall 
11 take up Archaeology and Horniletics." 

And thus he has entered upon the second great 
stage of his work in preparing for the Gospel Minis- 
try. He seemed deeply moved, as intimated by the 
record in his Private Journal, on entering the "School 
" of the Prophets — replete with every means of im- 
" provement both intellectual and spiritual." 

He had long looked forward to this day. The pul- 
pit was the ultimate goal ; but might he not well look 
upon himself as entering the vestibule to that sacred 
place when he passed the portals of the Theological 
Seminary and found himself really a student of divi- 
nity, a learner in the school of the prophets? "Wo 
be to me," he writes solemnly, "if I neglect the means 



Teacher and Seminary Student. 7 7 

" of improvement here provided. O my God do thou 
" bless, do thou keep me, or I cannot succeed ! In 
" thee is my trust." 

It required some time for him to get to feel at home 
in this new place. It was very different from college 
life. An air of seriousness pervaded the cloisters, as 
they might well be called. There were no light-heart- 
ed, rollicking college boys rushing here and there with 
boisterous glee, playing their pranks, and stirring even 
the most sober-sided Seniors out of their constitution- 
al gravity. Longing for a little taste of the old Col- 
lege life he took advantage of a brief vacation * about 
the first of January, and paid a visit to Canonsburgh, 
" to see how things looked at old Jefferson." He was 
disappointed. Even a year had wrought quite a 
change. "Strange faces," he says, "have taken the 
" places of the old familiar ones, and I did not feel at 
" home. 'Thus passes the world away/ " 

Some glimpses of Seminary Life are given in a let- 
ter to his father about this time : "Our Class (Junior) 
" have waded through the Hebrew Grammar, and are 
" now reading in the first of Genesis. . . . We 
" number about sixteen ; the other two classes about 
" the same. We pay $1.50 per week for board, and 
" get pure Grahamic diet at that. Room rent is $10 
" per session. They tell us that the furniture is free 
" of rent ; but as the rooms have been furnished after 
"the model of the 'Prophet's chamber on the wall/ 
" it would not amount to much if we paid it. There 
" are about fifty rooms furnished in the Seminary, but 



78 S y. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" they are not all occupied, as many of the students 
" room in town." 

Speaking of the distinguished D. D. in Allegheny 
whose church he usually attended, he says: "He is 
" decidedly the best preacher in the two cities — I mean 
" among the pastors. Still there is a great deal of the 
"foggy in his sermons, and I do not believe his con- 
" gregation can follow him in more than half of his 
" metaphysical excursions to cloud-land. But I would 
" rather see a preacher think obscurely sometimes than 
" not to think at all. Drs. Green and McGill preach 
" occasionally in the churches, and when this is the 
" case they cause a shaking among the dry bones. 

" We shall sustain an irreparable loss when Dr. 
u Green leaves us, which will be the first of February 
" next. As a Biblical critic he has not his superior, 
" and as an orator he is the first in the West. We re- 
" cite Hebrew to him, and also study the Epistles 
" exegetically. We take our Greek Testaments to 
" class, prepared either to criticise the translation and 
" give a better, or explain the meaning both as to 
" sense and doctrine, as Ke may see fit to require. 

" There is work here for twenty-four hours study 
" every day. Not in the Class studies, but in reading 
" divinity collaterally. I never knew my ignorance 
" of theology till I came here. I do not read as much 
" as I would like for fear of taxing my poor system 
" too severely. I never expect to feel right well as 
" long as I am exclusively a student. I would like to 
" attend the spring meeting of Presbytery to be ex- 
" amined on my college studies and Hebrew, and if 



Teacher and Seminary Stttdent. yg 

" they think best, have a subject assigned me for 
11 exegesis, in order that things may go on grad- 
" ually." 

This was his last letter to his father, to whom he 
was devotedly attached, and on the lines of whose in- 
structions and saintly example he seemed to have 
modeled his own life and character. A short time af- 
terwards he received the painful intelligence of his 
dangerous illness, and in the latter part of February 
started home to visit and attend upon him. He found 
him very feeble, and unable at first, through a partial 
failure of his faculties, to recognize him. The time 
passed on and still the saintly pastor of a single 
church for over forty years, lingered on the borders of 
the two worlds. The paralysis which had seized him, 
and which affected his mind as well as his body, was 
relaxed for a time. In May, three months after Mills 
had returned home, the devoted son makes the record 
that his " father's health was improving somewhat, 
" and his mind clearer, and that he seemed to enjoy 
" the comforting presence of Jehovah." It was at 
such a time, when the mind rose superior to the weak- 
ness of the body, and faith in the Savior of men be- 
came a living and lifting principle, that he said to the 
friend at his bedside: u It is not what you or I can 
do that will save us. It is Christ's work alone. We 
can do nothing to justify ourselves ; it is the work of 
the Lord Jesus Christ alone." 

Within less than a month after this note of im- 
provement in the aged sufferer's condition the end 
came. "This morning (June 17, 1847)," says Mr. 



80 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

Eaton in his Private Journal, "at one and a half 
u o'clock, father breathed out his spirit into the hands 
" of his God. It is a solemn thing to stand by the 
" dying bed of a beloved friend and witness his de- 
" parture from earth. It is a solemn thing to die, but 
" yet it is Ho the weary rest/ if faith be an active prin- 
" ciple in the soul. I feel that now I must be with- 
" out an adviser. I must look to God. From hence- 
11 forth be thou my Father and the guide of my 
" youth." 

A sketch of the character and work of Mr. Eaton 
the elder has been given in the first chapter of this 
memoir. But it is fitting to reproduce here in part the 
minute with regard to him placed on the Records of 
the Erie Presbytery, at a session held at Greenville but 
a week after his death : 

" He was uniformly meek, gentle and forbearing, 
generous and hospitable. As a preacher he was clear, 
logical, instructive and evangelical, and eminently 
sound in the faith. In his death, the Boards of our 
Church, and the cause of benevolent efforts for the 
salvation of a perishing world, have lost a devoted 
friend." 

Although the meeting of Presbytery occurred so 
soon after his father's death, Mr. Eaton was present to 
be examined in his College studies in order to his ad- 
vancement towards licensure. He also read at this 
time a Latin exegesis, his subject being "Quomodo 
peccatores justificantur; " and a critical exercise on 
Romans 9: 1-5, both of which were " sustained." 



Teacher and Seminary Student. 81 

At the same time there were assigned to him for a 
future occasion Rev. 2: 1 — 6 for a Popular Lecture, and 
Rom. 5: 18 for a Popular Sermon. He then returned 
home where he remained several weeks for the comfort 
of his desolate-hearted mother, and because he loved 
to linger about the dear old home of his boyhood. 
His affection for his mother was peculiarly strong, and 
to leave her now in the midst of her sorrow, although 
her youngest son Isaac and her daughter Elizabeth 
were still with her, was a sore trial to them both. 

Some time before this his brother John, older than 
himself by some twelve years, had gone with his fam- 
ily to reside in Franklin County, Penn.; and before 
returning to the Seminary to resume his studies he paid 
them a visit, which he speaks of afterwards as " re- 
markably pleasant." " I visited many pleasant places," 
he says, " and saw many pleasant sights from moun- 
" tain top and in the ' caves of the earth/ " He was 
a true lover of nature. Mountains and deep gorges, 
wild grottoes and mighty rivers and the restless waters 
of the great Lake, near which his early years were 
spent, never ceased to delight him. And so whether it 
be the " Laurel Hills " in Fayette County, overlooking 
the early home of his mother, the "Blue Lick Springs 
of Kentucky, the " Gorges of Elkcreek " in his native 
county, or Lake Erie's "heaving waters blue " — what- 
ever the scene that comes before his view it finds in 
him an entranced admirer, and a poet ready to depict 
in glowing terms its beauties or its grandeur. Many a 
picture of such objects in nature is found among the 
writings of his College and Seminary days that found 



82 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

their way into print in some obscure newspaper of his 
native county. So Franklin County, with its rugged 
mountains, and winding rivers, and " caves and dens 
of the earth, " was not long in finding in him a deeply 
interested explorer. 

But he found something more interesting than were 
caves and mountains at this new home of his brother, 
near Chambersburg. It was the spot where his father 
was born and reared. And more than that, he actually 
saw a man on that old farm, on which his father lived 
as a child during the dark days of the Revolution, 
" who had seen his great-great-grandfather when he 
" was upwards of a hundred years old." That "man" 
was a veritable find. Through him, as a single con- 
necting link, he felt himself joined in his ancestral 
line to the times of Wm. Penn, or even possibly to the 
days of Cromwell and the " Siege of Derry." What 
a thrill it gives one to talk with such a man, and feel 
yourself in touch with the great events and actors of 
generations gone ! 

But this delightful visit soon came to an end, and 
on the 15th of September he finds himself again in his 
solitary cell in the sombre building on the hill. And 
lys first record is a prayer : " The Lord be with me 
" and baptize me anew with the spirit of his grace. 
" O God, thou God of my father, thy blessing be upon 
" me through the coming session ! May I have 
" strength, but especially the influences of thy grace. 

' Be thou my strength and righteousness, 
My Savior and my all.' " 



Teacher and Seminary Student. 8j 

He did not spend his whole time on the studies of 
the Seminary curriculum, nor in religious and theolo- 
gical reading. "A man's taste" he remarks in a letter 
" to one of his brothers, u needs to be cultivated, and a 
" little time must be spent in reading works of Poetry 
11 and Belleslettres. The intellect, too, must be whet- 
" ted up occasionally by a glance at languages; and in 
u addition to these, a little time given to mathematics 
11 has an admirable effect in balancing the mind and 
" improving the reasoning powers. But I must con- 
u fess I have not looked into a mathematical work 
" since I came here. 

" So you perceive that if one discharges his duty to 
" himself he has not much time to waste. Still a 
" great deal of time is consumed in loafing, and neces- 
" sarily, in so large an establishment. But some can 
" do this with much more sang froid (as Elizabeth 
M would say) than others." 

As the time approaches for his entering upon the 
work of the ministry he begins to have fear and trem- 
bling. u Nisi Dominus frustra" he writes ; and adds : 
u I do most solemnly feel that except God be with me 
" in a most signal manner I must fail. O God, give 
" me more grace — more love to thee and to thy cause. 
" Yea, bathe me in a sea of love ! Poor wretched sin- 
" ner that I am, how can I do anything for God ? 
" But thou 'hast given this treasure in earthen vessels, 
" that the power may be of God and not of us/ " 

The short vacation at the time of the Holidays this 
year (1847-8) he again spent among his friends in 
Fayette county. He felt that " the time was drawing 



84 S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" near when vacations would no more occur, and when, 
" like Peter of old, he would no longer be able to 
" 'gird himself and go whither he would.'" 

He had begun of late to take better care of his 
health. Sanitary regulations during his time as a 
student were not so much regarded as now ; and there 
can be little doubt that the headaches and other bodily 
ailments to which he was subject were largely owing 
to lack of sufficient exercise, and to want of care in 
diet, ventilation, &c. On his return to the Seminary 
for his last session he makes this note — in a letter to 
his brother Isaac: "I have been trying the virtues 
" of the shower-bath this winter, and think it has 
" benefitted me amazingly, in bracing and energizing 
" my nerves. I have invented one, fixed up in my 
" room; and every morning, before day-light, I jump 
" out of bed, and get under the cold shower. It is 
" hard on the feelings I must confess, but I intend to 
" persevere in it all winter, and perhaps it may cure 
" me of the headache. In fact it has prevented it in 
" a great many cases." 

In his readings he fell in with the memoirs of that 
saintly Scotch minister, McCheyne ; and in his usual 
spirit of self-condemnation he says (in his Journal): 
" I felt how immeasurably I fall short of his con- 
" scientiousness in private duty. Have felt much of 
" late my utter unfitness for the great work of preaching 
" Christ. O for a renewed baptism of the spirit!" 

For more than two months, from January 5th, 1848, 
to March 9th, he seems to have been too much occu- 
pied with study, reading and sermon- writing, to have 



Teacher and Seminary Student. 8$ 

resorted even once to his little " father confessor/' the 
Private Journal. On the latter date he says : u Ina 
11 few days I must leave the Seminary for the great 
" world. Next week, God willing, I expect to be 
"licensed to preach the Gospel. I feel the responsi- 
u bility to be great — crushing and unbearable save in 
11 the Lord Jesus. I would desire to know nothing 
" but Christ, and him crucified. I feel that I can lean 
" upon God in Christ, and my spirit feels peace in 
" this confidence. O God give me grace ! " 

On the 13th he bid farewell to the Seminary; and 
over wretched roads, in the midst of storm and cold — 
part of the way in a rough wagon instead of the usual 
stage-coach — he arrived after two days in Meadville, 
where the Presbytery was in session. 

In the evening of the same day, March 15th, he 
preached his " trial sermon " from Romans 5 : 18 — 
" Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came up- 
on all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness 
of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification 
of lifer 

His sensitive and self-distrusting nature shrank 
from the ordeal of appearing before this body of grave 
and critical divines, «and preaching on so deep a subject 
as that presented by his text. " Had not much free- 
dom," he remarks in his Journal, and " felt deterred 
" by the fear of man that ' bringeth a snare/ " The 
next day he was licensed to preach the Gospel, and 
three days afterwards stood in his father's old pulpit 
— "in our own old church of Fairview," as he ten- 
derly calls it. 



86 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

And thus he was fairly launched into the work of 
the Ministry. A sermon on the 19th of March in the 
presence of his former school-mates and old friends, 
on the 21st he was called to the discharge of another 
ministerial duty in the performance of the marriage ' 
ceremony in behalf of his friend Rev. John K. 
Cornyn and Miss Eliza J. Frost, of Girard. Mr. 
Cornyn was at this time the pastor of the church of 
Sturgeonville (now Fairview) — the Western portion of 
the old Fairview Church. The other or Eastern part 
of that congregation, having removed the common 
church building to West Millcreek, five miles west of 
Erie, retained not only the property but also the or- 
ganization and the name. A few years later the old 
name, by the permission of Presbytery, was dropped 
and that of Westminster substituted. When the Old 
School and New School Churches of the village of 
Fairview were brought together they took the name of 
Fairview Church. 



-^^_(g yv g)_9_9— - 



CHAPTER V. 
LITERARY RECREATION. 

A true biography of any man ought to show him 
just as he was. Not only the great lines of his char- 
acter ought to appear, but the lighter shadings should 
also be sketched in ; not only the main work of his 
life be fully set forth, but what he did in play, or for 
relaxation, or following the natural bent of his mind, 
should not be silently passed over in the chronicle of 
his career. The great lines of Mr. Eaton's character 
and life were those of the earnest student, the con- 
scientious Christian, and the faithful, self-denying, 
practical pastor and preacher. 

But he had also a purely literary vein in his nature 
— that which, but for his religious training and tem- 
perament, would have led him to devote himself to a 
purely literary career. The love of literature for its 
own sake drew him frequently aside in the midst of his 
usual and serious occupations to recreations in which 
he allowed his fancy to run out into poetical and ficti- 
tious composition — apparently from the mere love of 
it. He had great fecundity of thought, and great 
facility in expressing his thoughts, and never was hap- 
pier than when dashing off some fanciful sketch for 
the press, or writing some light verses for the album 
of a lady friend. 



88 S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

In the later period of his life this love of literary 
production took a more serious direction, and resulted 
in the writing of a number of valuable books, mainly 
historical. These will be treated of in a chapter by 
themselves. But what he wrote in a lighter vein took 
the form of short articles which appeared from time to 
time in the newspaper press. 

He had written a number of articles, mostly of a 
descriptive character, for one or other of the newspapers 
of his native County, while a student of the Erie 
Academy — articles that attracted attention and showed 
unmistakable literary ability. But while at college he 
gave a freer rein to his fancy, in successive series of 
sketches which were printed in various newspapers. 
To the earliest of these he gave the title of " Sopho- 
more Sketches." Another series he called "Vacation 
Rambles," and still another " Recollections of the 
Past," which ran to twenty numbers. There is enough 
of these various short tales and sketches to form a vol- 
ume of considerable size. Selections are given below 
as samples of his quality as a writer in this lighter 
vein. 

The first extract is taken from one of the " Sopho- 
more Sketches," giving an account of a vacation visit 
— founded in fact, no doubt, but built mainly of ma- 
terials furnished forth by the imagination. It bears 
the title of 

THE VACATION. 

" Dreading the monotony and ennui of a vacation at 
college, I accepted the invitation of my chum to spend 
a few weeks with him at his home. After the usual 



Literary Recreation. 8g 

ceremony of leave-taking, we turned our backs upon 
the now almost deserted halls of the college, and with 
light hearts talked of the way we would murder time 
in the course of the following weeks. Plans innumer- 
able were discussed and dismissed respectively as 
wanting in interest or originality. The next day 
found us seated in my friend's quondam study, philo- 
sophically discussing our future plans. 

" The family I had never before seen ; but from my 
intimacy with my friend I had formed a very good 
idea of its members. But of one of these members I 
had not formed a correct opinion. My worthy chum 
had spoken of her as his ' sentimental sister/ and I 
supposed her to be some ' Juliet ' of modern romance ; 
but I was deceived. She was not the being of my 
imagination, but still was an object not less interesting. 

" She had that light, sylph-like form so much en- 
vied by her sex and admired by ours, with that deep 
transparency of countenance, that is always the signet- 
stamp of the spoiler — that same redness of lip, and 
sparkling, spiritual eye, which strangers recognize as 
the inheritance of the tomb, but which friends cannot 
believe. Her face was the mirror of purity — so devoid 
was it of guile. I have seen many of the daughters of 
loveliness. I have worshipped in the temple of beauty, 
and have seen faces more beautiful and resplendent than 
that of this fair being ; but never such a countenance 
of purity. Such faces are precious as the leaves 
of the Roman Sybil. Hers was spiritual. I tried 
to believe that she was not in the power of that subtle 
disease which preys so fearfully on northern beauty; 



go S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

but it was written too indelibly on that brow of ala- 
baster to be mistaken 

"As the intimate friend of her brother, she treated 
me with more frankness than I was entitled to receive. 
This gratified me, as I was anxious to learn the quali- 
ties of her mind. The casket was lovely — what was 
the jewel that it contained? It was pure, it was chas- 
tened, it too was lovely. Often when the sky was 
clear and the air was serene, would we sally forth on 
an equestrian excursion. The scenery in that lovely 
vale was of the most inspiring kind — grand, and 
frowning, and wild. It was then that I loved to lis- 
ten to her thrilling remarks. Her soul partook of 
the romance of the country. 'This earth/ she would 
say, ' has been called a vale of tears; but still it is 
beautiful. There are so many things connected with 
it that are poetic, and wildly romantic, that they 
make it interesting. So that in this respect it is not 
wonderful that 

' Earth's children cleave to earth.' 

for we are poetic beings. Our own souls are such 
strange, mysterious things that poetry is congenial to 
them. We delight in the beautiful, the sublime, and 
the grand ; and these always cause poetic feelings in 

the soul ' 

"Her knowledge of the poets, especially of the old 
school, was extensive, and I observed that in all her 
copies she had scored in pencil passages that had 
pleased her fancy. In reading over with her some of 
her favorite authors, her remarks were often beautiful 
and poetic in the extreme. We were examining a copv 



Literary Recreation. 



of Moore. 4 Who/ said she, 'can read the rich num- 
bers of Moore and not think of the banished Peri 
without the gates of Paradise ? Now rolling along 
like the flow of a gentle brooklet, all sweetness and 
melody, now in accents low and mournful as the even- 
ing song of the turtle.' 

"Some maiden aunt will say that my own peace was 
in danger. Nonsense! I was but a boy, a 'pale- 
faced sophomore.' Besides, who would thick of lov- 
ing an angel, for almost as such I looked upon this 
sweet child of the vale. 

" We were out one day on a ridingexcursion, drink- 
ing iu the rich, deep poetry of the woods and wilds. 
And well does the exercise of riding give relish to 
such delight. Suddenly the heavens were overcast 
with blackness. A deep sable pall seemed at once to 
have been cast around the world. To one accustomed 
to those hills and mountains this was not strange, and 
we knew the windows of heaven would soon be 
opened. To redouble our speed was in vain. The 
storm was upon us. The dense masses of cloud opened, 
and the rain descended, not in torrents, but in entire 
sheets. The next day she was a sufferer. The blood 
was rushing in hot and fitful currents through her 
veins, and her delicate form was scorched by a fever. 

"I saw her not for days, when one evening I re- 
ceived an invitation to visit her. It was in the same 
little parlor where often before we had read from the 
same page and admired the same beauties of sentiment. 
Her fever had disappeared, and she was the same spir- 
itual being of former days. She spoke of my depart- 



92 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

ure, 'You are going to rejoin your class-mates, and 
our little circle will be broken. The time has passed 
pleasantly since you have been with us, but we will 
never meet again. I feel it, I know it. I am going 
hence. This clay tenement must soon be resolved into 
its original elements. But I shall not remain in the 
dust. The spirit has no affinity with clay — it has a 
higher destiny, a nobler goal. I feel and know that 
there is an existence beyond, of such glory and expan- 
sion as the mind in its loftiest aspirations has never 
yet contemplated, an existence beyond the flight of 
time and mortal change, where expansion will succeed 
expansion, until the sweetest lute of angel will be too 
humble for the weakest saint. I know, too, that my 
Redeemer lives who has given me a " hope which is as 
an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast," the 

hope of an immortality of bliss/ I 

saw not that fair friend again, nor shall, until the 
graves give up their dead. In the course of the session 
I received a letter from my quondam chum filled with 
mourning and lamentation. It closed thus : ' I know 
you will weep with us. The loved one has left us, 
and our hearth is desolate. Gently her life waned 
away, 

'And set as sets the morning star, which goes 
.Not down behind the darkened west, nor hides 
Obscured among the tempests of the sky, 
But melts away into the light of heaven.' " 



Literary A ;n. 93 



From No. 15 of the lied " Recollections of 

the 1 taken the sketch entitled 

OT AT SEA. 

''Some form? of the departed, were passing before 
my spirit's vision to-night, causing me to think of one 
I knew in the glad season of youth, who left the 
world amid the wild commotion of the winds and the 
waves. Musing upon his tragic fate has led me into 
these dreams of ocean and his prey. 

"We were boys together. We attended the same 
school, and often sat in the same church, and wor- 
shiped the God of our fathers in company. It seemed 
as though he would be 'a man of rnark' in his day, 
for he Mras destined by his friends to occupy a high 
position in the church of his fathers, and had the 
natural gifts, as far as human foresight could distin- 
guish, to enable him satisfactorily to accomplish his 
mission. — In order for a full preparation to fulfill his 
high behest, a sojourn was projected in Europe. An 
indomitable desire sprung up within him to tread the 
land of our fathers, to look upon the scenes that have 
been immortalized by England's Orators and Histor- 
ians and Poets, and to muse amid those grave-vards 
that are strewn with the monuments of the world's 
heroes. He longed to take ' the Pilgrim's staff and 
sandal shoon/ and see the beauty and grandeur, as 
well as the despotism and tyranny of other lands, and 
to gather materials for after thought, when entered 
fully upon the arena of life. That young man left 
his friends and his native land, with a heart of hope 



94 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

and anticipation. His countenance beamed with joy, 
as he set out upon that pilgrimage that was to end so 
tragically. Well is it for mortals that the future is 
within the cloud. Well that we cannot see into the 
book of coming events, else but little joy and happi- 
ness would be ours upon earth. 

"The ship sped on its journey without accident un- 
til land was descried in the distance. Night closed in 
with more than usual darkness. A light appeared in 
the distance, that was taken for the light-house on the 
head of Kensale, and the ship was navigated upon 
that supposition. Soon the wild foam of the break- 
ers and the heavy plunges of the ship, convinced the 
officers of their error. But it was too late. A fear- 
ful concussion, a dead recoil, and the noble ship was a 
complete wreck, and in a very few minutes went 
down, with all that was mortal of her passengers. 

" A part of the crew only were rescued from the 
grave of waters. They had been lured to their ruin 
by a false light upon an iron-bound coast, on the 
south-west of Ireland. 

" There was a desolate house on the banks of the 
Ohio. A tender mother had been bereaved of her 
heart's idol, and refused to be comforted. In her 
waking moments visions of wrecks and sore disaster 
were before her. In her slumbers, she heard the roar 
of the waters, the wild wail of the tempest, and the 
groans of the dying, and sleep departed from her eyes. 

11 If none can fathom a mother's love, let them 
know that a mother's anguish for the loss of a beloved 
child is equally deep. It may be softened, but can 



L iterary Recri ution . 95 



never be removed. A mother never forgets the child 
that has been pillowed on her bosom, and if that child 
has met with an untimely fate, a wound has been in- 
flicted in that bosom that can never be healed. It 
will be all powerful and sensitive, until the dust is 
placed upon it in the grave. 

11 But, doubtless, all is right. He who rules the 
winds and the waves, had his own wise purposes to 
bring about, and is able to bring good to his creatures, 
even when all seems to be evil. In our blindness we 
may not be able to see this at the first, but the open- 
ing purposes of Providence may soon convince us. 

• His purposes will ripen fast 

Unfolding every hour ; 
The bud may have a bitter taste, 

But sweet will be the flower/ " 



The following from a later series of Mr. Eaton's 
sketches, bearing the title of " Heart Memories/ 3 is a 
description of the 

"blue lick springs." 

"O fons Brundusi<e splendidior vitro, 
Dulci digne mero, non sine floribus.*' 

Horace. 
" How beautiful is the doctrine of compensation, in 
all God's works ! Light and shade, cold and heat, 
storm and sunshine, are found in grateful variety. 
When many evils force themselves upon our attention, 
they are always compensated by alleviating circum- 
stances. 

" Glance at New England. Her rude, rough soil, 
is, in places, almost barren. Her rocky hills find 



9 6 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

their counterpart only in the stern, massive hearts, 
and souls of unflinching integrity, of her primitive 
settlers. But these objectionable features are compen- 
sated by a climate of matchless healthfulness ; and 
that rude, rough soil, prompts to habits of patient in- 
dustry — themselves the secrets of health and careful- 
ness. 

"Go to the El Dorado of the West, where the gen- 
tle rains of Heaven are restrained for months by the 
clouds so prodigal of their stores to other sections, and 
we might suppose its sultry glebe unendurable. But 
earth is there prodigal of her mineral treasures, such 
as might tempt even Mammon himself — i Mammon, 
the least erected spirit that fell from Heaven.' 

" This world is not all unmitigated evil, nor is it all 
unchanged perfection. The good and evil mingle and 
neither predominates as yet; for at present, earth is the 
grand battle field, on which sin and holiness are con- 
tending for the mastery, and they will continue to % 
mingle in the fight until earth's jubilee arrives, and 
darkness is banished to its primeval home. 

U A solitary bright spot on the page of memory has 
induced these reflections. There are many such bright 
spots, as I turn over the leaves of that pleasant 
book, but of this one would I speak particularly. 

" To the Pilgrim of many lands, who has noted his 
* Wanderings beneath the shadow of Mont Blanc/ or 
the ' Jungfrau Alp/ or with i sandal shoon ' and 
staff has dreamed away a delicious summer on the 
Rhine, I doubt not many strange and romantic scenes 
have appeared. But I also doubt whether a more ro- 



Literary Recreation, 97 

mantic prospect has been visited, than one found in 
our own country. I refer to the i Blue Licks of 
Kentucky/ There exist both romance and reality. 
What led me to think of the doctrine of compensa- 
tion, in connexion with these springs, is their peculiar 
location. 

" Imagine an immense barren tract of country for 
many miles in extent, as destitute of vegetation as the 
Desert of Lybia, variegated only by gentle elevations 
of land, and small fragments of stone, and you have 
an idea, faint and shadowy, of the visible surround- 
ings of the Blue Lick Springs. Neither tree, nor 
shrub, nor bush gladdens the eye, save a few stunted 
cedars, that only add to the sense of desolation. It is 
gloomy and desolate as the place of graves. 

" But the Springs make ample amends for all this 
barrenness and sepulchural gloom. A living fountain 
bubbling up from the bosom of the earth, in an im- 
mense volume, makes the heart glad, and throws a 
feeling of cheerful solemnity around ; for it is impos- 
sible to separate other feelings and sensations from one 
of sacred awe. 

" There, in the deep loneliness of the dell, one looks 
upon that gushing spring, and involuntarily thinks of 
the poetic fictions of Antiquity. Dryads and Nymphs 
throng the vision, — one feels upon holy ground. Like 
the old Patriarch of Horeb, one feels like doing 
homage to the presence of God. 

"The view of these Springs by moonlight is most en- 
trancing. All around is in deep repose. No sound 
agitates the air, save the bubbling of the bright 



g8 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

waters, as the gas arises to the surface and mingles 
with the atmosphere. The moonbeams, as they fall 
upon the water, are broken by its gentle undulations, 
and linger in evanescent beauty upon its surface. 

" That moonlight scene is now before me. I see 
with strange particularity the octagonal structure 
which encloses the principal spring, with its open 
sides, in the form of an Indian Pagoda, arising in its 
graceful proportions and surmounted by its tapering 
spire. I see the graceful wreath of mist that rises up 
and floats gently away, like a cloud of incense from 
some Grecian altar, sacred to Beauty and Harmony. 
I see all these to-night with most vivid distinctness, 
and it makes me feel once more like the dreamy senti- 
mental student of bygone years. 

" The Spring is of the octagonal form, and in the 
remembrance of its grateful and exhilarating coolness, 
I almost forgot that its atmosphere is all too redolent 
with sulphuretted hydrogen gas. Of yore, I loved 
to sit by the hour at the bubbling fountain amid the 
dreamy fantasies its presence naturally inspires. 

"By that same fountain the r6d man had sat and 
dreamed long before his hunting grounds were molest- 
ed, or even dreamed of by the white man. Of its 
healing water he had doubtless often drank, when dis- 
ease invaded his system, and by its margin, too, the 
gentle Indian maiden had often performed her incan- 
tations, when bowed beneath the power of an inau- 
spicious love. 

" But we should gather instruction from everything 
around us. We should 'find books in the running 



Literary Recreation. gcj 



brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.' 
That resplendent fountain tells me that like all things 
earthly it will fail; that the time will come when it 
will be swept away amid the convulsions of earth, and 
bids me drink from those undying waters that flow 
from the Fountain of Life. That Fountain will 
uever fail — he that drinks shall be athirst no more." 



One of Mr. Eaton's sketches while a student in 
College, under the head of u Vacation Rambles," is a 
description in a pleasant vein of an old-fashioned 

APPLE PARING. 

" It matters not how it was brought about, but cer- 
tain it is, that we were in the interior of one of the 
counties of Pennsylvania, during an autumnal vaca- 
tion. It would not do to be more explicit than this, 
lest the charge of personality might be incurred, as we 
were only a looker-on in the scenes about to be de- 
scribed. 

"It was on the afternoon of the first day of our so- 
journ at the comfortable farmhouse, that we were in- 
formed by the worthy mistress of the mansion that 
they were to have an 'apple paring' in the evening, 
when we would have an opportunity of seeing some of 
the i young folks' of the neighborhood. According- 
ly, as evening began to set in, the ' young folks' began 
to assemble until they numbered about twenty gentle- 
men and ladies, or boys and girls, as they called each 
other. . 

" Bonnets, shawls and hats being laid aside, they 
were all soon seated around the room. A bright fire 



ioo S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

threw its cheerful light around and heightened the 
ruddy glow upon the cheeks of the company. Scarce- 
ly a word was spoken. It seemed as though some 
mighty spell had thrown its influence around the com- 
pany. Even the ladies forgot their usual volubility, 
and remained motionless as statues in an artist's studio, 
as they sat with arms folded formally before them, and 
gazed with most tenacious resolution into the fire. 

" This to our uninitiated fancy gave but little pros- 
pect of entertainment. But presently we were invited 
by the lady of the mansion to walk into the other 
room. Here at a single glance we had a view of the 
field of action. In one corner of the room were 
several huge baskets of the finest apples, whose fair 
and rosy covers were destined soon to be removed by 
fingers equally as fair and rosy. Chairs were ar- 
ranged around the room, and the company soon seated 
in a very sociable manner, arranging the preliminaries, 
before commencing operations. This consisted in re- 
moving the outer covering and dividing the apple into 
four equal sections, depriving each of its portion of 
core, when they were in readiness for stringing. 

"Two damsels, whose very appearance was a practi- 
cal commentary on that line of Longfellow — 

'Art is long and time is fleeting,' 

were unanimously elected stringers. We heard a mis- 
chievous wight whisper as we passed him that ' these 
same' had strung apples on such occasions for the last 
twenty years> 



Lit /7. 101 

"Our position was in the neighborhood of these 
Hel • in the stringing and remove the 

columns when completed to a neighboring nail. 

"If silence reigned in the former part of the even- 
ing with unbroken sway, it was entirely banished now. 
It seemed as though the fountains of the great deep 
were broken up. and conversation flowed 'like the 
rushing of mighty waters/ Perfect discord reigned, 
and yet it was welcomed, for it served to prevent the 
company from noticing our attempts to entertain the 
fair stringers — a task to which we found ourself 
wholly incompetent. In fact, we felt ourself to be 
an imaginary quantity, about that time, in spite of our 
good nature. 

" The hours were whiled away in this manner, varied 
by an occasional twirl of a full-length apple-paring 
over the shoulder of some anxious swain to see what 
letter it would form. This letter was said to be the 
initial of the name most dear to him. At length 'the 
object of the meeting/ at least as far as regarded the 
apples, was accomplished. The last shining cover was 
removed ; the last long row of denuded quarters was 
suspended in its appropriate place ; and to our own 
unspeakable delight we were released from our posi- 
tion as the attache of the only two odd ladies in the 
circle. 

"The second act of the drama now approached. 
Two large brown mugs of cider were placed before the 
Are, their tops thickly powdered with ginger, as a kind 
of presage of what was to follow. It is strange how 
this same business of eating and drinking enters into 



102 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

all our arrangements for business or amusement. The 
first course consisted of lozenge-shaped dough -nuts, 
done perfectly brown, and cheese luscious enough for 
the banquet of Pan himself, all prepared by the hands 
of the fair sisters of the household. This was suc- 
ceeded by a large dish of ' shell-barks/ not like those 
mentioned by good John Bunyan — 

'Whose shell do keep the kernels from the eater/ 
but with shells partially removed by cracking. When 
ample justice had been done to these necessary accom- 
paniments of human enjoyment, preparations were 
made for the last act of the evening. This was to 
consist of those games and plays in which our fathers 
and mothers delighted in times i so long back that the 
memory of man runneth not to the contrary/ 

" While these preliminaries were being arranged we 
took occasion to pay our respects to the kind hostess 
in the adjoining room, fearing that our success in such 
matters would be similar to that which attended our 
attempts to entertain the worthy apple-stringers. We 
feared, moreover, that we might again fall into their 
hands, and again be victimized. We therefore took 
advantage of that first law of nature, self preserva- 
tion, and retired from the arena. 

"The first scene consisted of that venerable old 
game of blind man's buff. This was pursued with 
such gusto and loud acclaim as to call us of the ad- 
joining room to the door to witness it. The blind- 
folded youth, looking for all the world like the pic- 
ture of Fortune in the fable book, was making desper- 
ate passes at his desired victims, but oftener grasping 



Literary Recreation. IOJ 

airy phantoms than real flesh and blood. Long and 
loud rang the merry laughter when he succeeded in 
capturing some bashful nymph, and on recognizing 
her name exacted the usual tribute. 

" 4 I reckon that college chap, with the suspenders 
at the wrong end of his pants, does not know the fun 
he is missing by not being here/ said the quondam 
blind man during a short respite in the play. ' Readin' 
old musty books aint a patchin f to this, the way I 
look at it.' 

" ' Blame this book larnin' after all/ said another. 
4 It aint the right stripe for me. My head wouldn't 
bear it.? 

11 These objections were, however, set aside by a lass, 
with eyes deep as wells, saying, that 'if it was not for 
college larnin' old minister Green could not preach 
such long sermons, and explain the Catechism so 
cleverly.' 

"The company were again called into action. One 
amusement succeeded another with such rapidity that 
all were in a glow of excitement. The youngest boy 
in the room had taken the precaution to remove the 
pendulum from the old-fashioned brass clock, which 
stood in the corner, early in the evening, so that the 
party broke up at a random hour. 

" It was, however, past midnight when the ladies 
appeared in the hall equipped for the walk home. 
Then many a hopeful youth was to be seen scrutiniz- 
ing the circle, determined to be bold, yet the tremen- 
dous thumping at his ribs half restraining him from 
showing his boldness. 



104 S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" Judging from appearances, the different groups did 
not return home in the same order in which they ar- 
rived. Brothers and sisters were exchanged for com- 
panions more agreeable at that particular time. This 
exchange appearing to be satisfactory to all parties, the 
whole matter passed off pleasantly." 



Dr. Eaton had the feeling and temperament of the 
true poet, and he also possessed great facility in versifi- 
cation. Had he devoted himself to the fostering of 
the poetical gift that was in him — " the vision and the 
faculty divine " — and to the cultivation of the art of 
verse, he might have attained distinction. As Dr. 
Holland once said, in reviewing a volume of poems by 
a young aspirant to the honors of the Muses : "No 
man can succeed who does not thoroughly comprehend 
the fact, that he must lay every faculty of his soul up- 
on the altar of his ambition." 

Dr. Eaton had no thought of doing this as a poet. 
He could think, and utter fine sentiments in numbers 
that fell sweetly and pleasantly upon the ear. But 
this was only for pastime ; or it was the striking off of 
a little poem for the pleasure of a friend ; or it was 
the composition of a Hymn for a special occasion. A 
specimen of his poetical ability when a student of the 
Academy (1842) is the following — taken from a poem 
entitled " Elijah at Mount Carmel." 

" Deeply the prophet's face was veiled with gloom, 
That stern old prophet of the iron nerve, 
Before whose frown vice quailed with coward face, 
And guilt, confounded, sought the shades of night. 



Literary Recreation. 105 

With solemn steps and brow of anxious care 
He took his way along the winding path 
That led to Carmel's calm and peaceful top. 
There in a lone and barren spot he bowed, 
And poured his soul into the ear of God. 
Three weary years the heavens above had ceased 
To yield the fertilizing shower. The dew 
No more distilled amid the folds of night ; 
The thirsty earth was parched as though 
The deep sirocco's breath had passed around ; 
The fruitful field was now a barren waste, 
And meagre famine stalked throughout the land. 

11 'Grehazi, go and look toward the sea ! ' 
Meanwhile beneath the deep horizon's verge 
The elemental strife w ? as raging fierce — 
The winds were marshaling in their ocean caves, — 
For at the throne Elijah's prayer was heard. 
Thrice did the servant mount the highest cliff, 
And look intently o'er the distant sea 

Another peal terriffic as the first — 
The heavens are opened, and the rains descend 
In solid sheets, as though the deeps above 
Their secret fountains would at once exhaust, 
And in a second deluge bathe the earth. 



" Be this the lesson taught the wayward heart : 
The prayer of faith avails to move the hand 
That moves all nature in its silent course." 

Another short poem, entitled " Eve at the Dead 
Body of Abel," seems to have been written at about 
the same time as the preceding one : 

"Calm and serene the sleeping martyr lay, 
Locked in the dreamless slumber of the grave ; 
His manly beauty seemed in deep repose — 
Each rounded limb and muscle unrelaxed ; 
A gentle smile wreathed round his countenance, 



106 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

As tho 1 in sleep some gentle thought were near, 
Or radiant dream were nestling on his heart. 
His form was such as Phidias would have loved 
To etch in marble for immortal fame. 



Sad vision this to meet a mother's eye — 
A son too much beloved, cold in death ! 
Thus bursts she forth in melancholy strain : 

u O bitter scene, and strange 
Mysterious coldness on a brow so fair ! 
Had stern disease but placed his signet there, 

I could have feared thy change. 

" And when thy end was nigh, 
I could have watched thy dying moments number, 
And laid thy beauty in its dreamless slumber 

With scarce a heaving sigh— 

u And in the early spring, 
I could have come amid my loneliest hours 
To wreathe thy grave with thy beloved flowers 

In their, first blossoming. 

" All this I could have borne ; 
And when at dewy morn, or shut of day, 
I knelt beside thy lonely grave to pray, 

My heart had ceased to mourn. 

kt But by a brother's hand 
Thy young existence in its opening spring 
Is crushed to earth, and plumed thy spirit's wing 

To seek the spirit land. 

"And when I think of thee, 
Although my faith shall see thee richly blest, 
Thought of thy brother's sin shall cause my breast 

To thrill with agony. 

Night closed, and left the mother with her dead — 
The first sad trophy of that mortal sin 
That since has thickly strewn our world with graves.' 



Literary Recreation. 107 

Mr. Eaton, when the poetic mood was upon him, 
seemed always at his best in descriptive passages, 
especially when scenes and objects of nature were the 
subject. Here, for example, is a selection from a poem 
which he committed to print when in his second year 
in college. The subject is the peculiar features and 
changes of the seasons, with accompanying reflections : 

. . . . u The Spring with all her smiles 
Has passed away, bedecked with roses sweet 
And charmed with notes of heaven's aerial choir — 
Gfone, gone in the midst of all its lovliness. 
The Summer, too, with all its sunny skies 
And gorgeous drapery of sun-tinged clouds, 
Like wings of seraphs coursing through the air, 
Has gone, gone with its fruits and with its flowers, 
Its warbling groves and all its glittering wreaths ; 
Gone with its shady walks and moss-clad grots, 
Inspired by deep devotion's magic spell, 
Or rendered sacred by affection's tie. 
And Autumn, too, like matron in her prime, 
Enriched with solid gifts, but with a tinge 
Of care upon her brow, has passed away — 
Autumn, the image of our fading joys, 
Yet of our brightening hopes, has passed away 
To silence and the land of mortal dreams. 

"The year has flown, and with it too have gone 
Rich freights of human hopes and golden joys, 
Swept 'neath the tempest on life's troubled sea. 
Young hearts that erst were light as angel's thoughts, 
And leaped rejoicing as the balmy breeze 
That sweeps from ocean's isle, are cold and still. 
The fair young girl, with brow as pure as snow 
That gleams on Iceland's polar hills, is now 
The lone companion of the hall of death. 
He who had bowed at beauty's shrine, and drunk 
The sweetness of love's deeply witching words, 



io8 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

Till, like a harp attuned by seraph's touch, 
It breathed forth heaven's etherial minstrelsy, 
Is now at rest beneath the springing vale." 

Dr. Eaton was often very happy in the composition 
of Hymns for special occasions in connection with his 
church. A considerable number of these were written 
and used from time to time. The hymn following, 
sung at the Dedication of the new Church at Frank- 
lin, in 1869, is a fair sample of his skill and ability in 
this species of lyrical production : 

i. 
Oh Lord of Hosts ! Eternal King, 
Our earnest tribute here we bring 

To thy most worthy praise ; 
Oh send thy Holy spirit down, 
The fulness of thy work to crown, 

As we our voices raise, 
ir. 
Though in the high and holy place, 
Beyond the utmost bounds of space, 

Thou hast thy blest abode, 
Yet here, on earth, thou dwellest too, 
In love and mercy ever new, 

A covenant-keeping God. 
in. 
And so, this temple made with hands, 
The fruit of prayer and effort stands, 

Through sovereign mercy free ; 
And now our humble offering, 
With glad and earnest hearts we bring, 

To dedicate to Thee. 

IV. 

Accept the gift, and here abide, 
And o'er our worship still preside 
Till worship here is o'er, 



Literary Recreation. log 



And our unwearied feet shall tread 
The everlasting hills of God, 
To worship evermore ! 

v. 

Here may thy people still be fed, 
And humble souls to Christ be led, 

For life and health and peace ; 
And here on earth we'll give thee praise, 
And loftier notes in heaven we'll raise 

To thy victorious grace. 

A sweet little poem is the following, entitled 

LINES ACCOMPANYING A DRAWING. 



Gaily those little birds, 
Upon the fountain's brink, 

Are warbling forth their honeyed words 
While bending down to drink. 

ii. 

Life seems a pleasant dream, 
Xor care, nor grief they know. 

While gazing in the limpid stream, 
Or list'ning to its flow. 

III. 

Thus, may your heart be light. 

And golden all your hours— 
Thus, may your path be always bright, 

And strewn with sweetest flowers. 

IV. 

And when this life is o'er 
And earthly fountains cease, 

May you find rest, and thirst no more, 
In the sweet realms of peace. 

Franklin, March 18th, 1354. 



no S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

In the summer of 1884, at the close of the first ten 
years in the history of the famous Chautauqua enter- 
prise, an appropriate celebration was held on the 
grounds, and the following song, written by Dr. 
Eaton, was sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. 

THE DECADE SONG. 

We join to-day, a sacred band, 

In prayer and sweet acclaim, 
To celebrate our first decade 

Of work in J esus' name. 
Ten years have passed since first the groves 

Their whispers welcome brought; 
And all their months, in joy or grief, 

Have shown what God hath wrought. 

Chorus:— Our first decade in joy we sing, 
With thanks for mercies given, 
And breathe a prayer for all our band, 
In hope of rest in heaven. 

Few of our band are gathered here 

To join in song to-day. . 

The field is large— the harvest ripe, 

And some are far away ; 
And some with gather'd sheaves have passed 

Up to the throne above, 
Where kings and priests anointed stand, 

Before the God of love. 

Then with a heart of faith and trust. 

We join anew to-day, 
In consecration to the work, 

As we together pray : 
That richer sheaves may crown our toil 

As evening shadows fall, 
And we at last at Jesus' feet 

May crown him Lord of all. 



CHAPTER VI. 
PASTORAL LIFE. 

The preparatory work was completed. Samuel John 
Mills Eaton, the inheritor of a name, both Christian 
and patronymic, that was in itself a stimulus to high 
endeavor, had finished the prescribed course of liter- 
ary and theological study in Academy, College and 
Seminary, and had been duly commissioned by the 
proper authority in his church to preach the Gospel. 
It would have been well if he could have taken a 
period of rest, after the long stretch of .seven or eight 
years of study, in order that his tired brain and worn 
body might become thoroughly recuperated. He often 
spoke of this in his later life, and said if he could only 
have had a year's rest, before entering upon pastoral 
work, he would have been stronger, and more firm in 
health, and able to bear up under the burdens that 
came upon him. 

But at the time he seemed to have had no such 
thought. Indeed, as we have seen, he had been impa- 
tient to reach the end of his course of preparation ; and, 
like his Master, who would never spare himself, but 
" must be about His Father's business;" so he was 
eager to enter upon the work that was set before him 
to do. 



U2 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

After his licensure, he was at his old home for a lit- 
tle time, and only now and then. There were empty 
pulpits to be supplied ; and he was always ready to 
obey the call, " Go preach the preaching that I bid 
thee." Like Moses he might be diffident — self-dis- 
trustful, — but he was not a coward like Jonah. When 
the summons came he went forth in the strength that 
Christ gives to all who, with willing hearts, devote 
themselves to His service. 

During the spring and early summer he supplied, 
whenever called upon, churches in the Presbytery that 
were without regular pastors — often going long dis- 
tances on horseback, and submitting to the various 
trials and privations that usually fall to the lot of the 
frontier missionary. But he was at home for a time 
early in July; for on the 11th of that month he makes 
this record in his Journal : " Left home in company 
" with mother and Mrs. P. for Mansfield, Ohio, to 
" visit sister Elizabeth " (the wife of Rev. J. W. 
Dickey). He had a " very pleasant visit," as he says, 
of two weeks. July 27th he writes : " Reached 
" home this evening from Mansfield. Next week I go 
" to Franklin." 

He had preached in Franklin for the first time in 
April preceding; and after filling a number of ap- 
pointments in the small churches that had sprung up 
in the midst of the sparse settlements of Western 
Pennsylvania, and making the visit home already 
spoken of, he returned to that town on an invitation 
to act as a " stated supply " of the church there. Under 
date of August 5th, he makes this entry in his Pri- 



Pastoral Life. uj 



vate Journal — a little volume that his busy pen now 
seldom visits: a This evening arrived in Franklin. 

"I have now consented to supply the 

" churches of Franklin and Mount Pleasant until the 
u first of January — the two-thirds of my time here, 
11 the balance in Mount Pleasant." — And thus he was 
launched into that which was to be his life-work; 
for Franklin was to be thereafter his home, and the 
church of Franklin to be centre of his affections and 
of his labors in the Gospel for nearly thirty-four 
years. 

He was at this time in his 29th year. He did not 
consider himself in robust health, though he had great 
power of endurance, and was able to accomplish an 
immense amount of labor in the ministry. In person 
he was rather above the medium height, and well de- 
veloped physically — with a large head and strongly 
marked features. His countenance was kind and 
benevolent, but with a cast of deep thought and ear- 
nestness. He had mild blue, or bluish-gray eyes, hair 
a dark brown, becoming somewhat silvered before he 
was sixty. He wore a full beard during most of his 
later life, but without a moustache. His voice was 
flexible, strong and deep, with a tone of solemnity w 
and pathos in it. In his attitude as a speaker he was 
not inclined to stand erect, assuming a careless and 
easy posture, and was often energetic in his gestures. 
His diffidence gave him a rather deprecating or em- 
barrassed manner. 

Such was the man who, on the first Sunday in 
August, 1848, stood before the small congregation of 



114 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

the church of Franklin — soon to become their pastor, 
helper, and friend for almost the full period of his re- 
maining years. 

The town was at that time an unpretending little 
one of less than a thousand inhabitants; but it was the 
county seat of Venango county, and noted for the 
number of prominent men whom it had produced, or 
nurtured into distinction in the State and Nation. 
Built on the right bank of French Creek, at the point 
of its junction with the Allegheny River, it was a 
place of considerable local importance. And it had a 
history reaching back into the times before the Revo- 
lution — a history glorified by the presence of the 
youthful Washington as commissioner to treat with the 
French authorities, who had occupied this point as one 
of their " coigns of vantage " in the chain of forts 
they were constructing from the Lakes to the Gulf. 
This early history Dr. Eaton treated of in his later 
years somewhat at length, in his own pleasant style, 
and with pains-taking accuracy;* and there was ro- 
mance enough about it to quicken and delight his 
imagination. 

The church of Franklin was organized in 1817. It 
was re-organized in 1821, and at that time had but 
nine members. The Rev. Thomas Anderson was or- 
dained and installed as the first pastor of the church, 
September 19th, 1826; and at about the same time the 
church was transferred from the Presbytery of Alle- 



*Centennial Discourse, a sketch of the History of 
Venango County. Also the article Venango County in Dr. 
Egle's History of Pennsylvania. 



Pastoral Life. 115 



gheny to that of Erie. Mr. Anderson remained with 
the church for eleven years. After his rdease, in 
1837, the pastorate was vacant for nearly three years. 
But on the 12th of June, 1840, the Rev. Cyrus Dick- 
son, who afterwards became distinguished as an 
eloquent and successful preacher, and especially as the 
Corresponding Secretary of the Board of Home Mis- 
sions, was ordained and installed as pastor of the 
church. He resigned in March, 1848, and five 
months afterwards Mr. Eaton became a " stated sup- 
ply;" and oh the 7th of February, 1849, was ordain- 
ed and installed pastor of the church, in connection 
with that at Mount Pleasant, already mentioned — two- 
thirds of his time being given to Franklin. 

Mount Pleasant was a country charge, and the 
members few and scattered. It required a ride of ten 
miles to reach the meeting-house, and over roads al- 
ways bad excepting for a time in the summer. The 
young minister was rather discouraged at first in re- 
gard to this portion of his work ; for during a consid- 
erable period, when there had been no regular preach- 
ing in the church, many of the people had been drawn 
away to a Methodist connection — the result of a camp- 
meeting effort in the neighborhood. " Nearly one- 
" half of my usual congregation," he writes, " has 
" been enticed away. " 

He had come into Franklin with but few of his 
books, and he soon found the need of them; so, as St. 
Paul, when at Rome, wrote to his "son Timothy" to 
11 bring with " him when he came " the books, but es- 
pecially the parchments," we find Mr. Eaton writing 



i/6 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

back to his brother at the old home : " I miss my 
u books sadly — have nothing even by way of reference. 
" When Mr. Cornyn" (the clergyman in Girard) 
11 comes out here, 1 must get him to bring me some of 
11 them. By the way, I wish you would put my large 
" trunk in trim by the time he comes. It needs some 
" repairing. I will give you a list of the books I 
" would like: Dick's Theology, two volumes; Hah 
" dane on Romans; Barnes on Hebrews; Dick on 
"Acts; Eastburne on Philippians ; the 5th and 6th 
" volumes of The Comprehensive Commentary; Greek 
u Testament; Offices of Christ; Reformed Pastor; 
11 Confession of Faith, and Junkin on the Prophecies. 
" These will be as many books, perhaps more than he 
" will like to bring. — What things are in the trunk 
u send with it, including the portfolio, &c." This last 
item seems like St. Paul's lf especially the parchments." 
He thus explains how he came to leave behind these 
necessary tools of the ministerial workman : " I was 
u in such a hurry and confusion when I left that I 
" forgot all about these things ; for I did not feel very 
" light-hearted. In fact I felt something like Jonah 
" when he was commanded to preach against Nineveh. 
"I felt almost disposed to 'flee to Tarshish.' But 
" with the promise to Moses, beaming almost as 
" brightly as the pillar of fire, i My presence will go 
" with thee and I will give thee rest? I came on, and 
" hope it may not be in vain that I have come. It is 
" vain to work against the designs of Providence, and 
" I hope Providence has sent me here." 



Pastoral Life. ny 



He was again like St. Paul in his wants ; for as the 
great Apostle directed Timothy to " bring with him 
the cloak " that he had " left at Troas with Carpus," 
so the young Franklin pastor says, in the letter already 
quoted : " It will be a good opportunity to send my 
" cloak, although I shall not need it for some time 
11 yet." 

In those slow days, when, steam cars and telegraphs 
were unknown — at least in Western Pennsylvania — it 
took a long time for the young minister to get the 
things he greatly needed sent to him. More than a 
month after he had asked his " Timothy " (his brother 
Isaac) to send him the "cloak" and the "books" and 
the fcl portfolio, " he was still without those necessary 
articles ; and in a second letter he says : " I am labor- 
" ing under great disadvantage for want of my books ; 
" but it is so very inconvenient getting anything 
" brought here, that I must, for the present at least, 
" make a few of them answer my purpose. Be partic- 
" ular, in packing the trunk, to have it full, and well 
" protected with papers, for Mr. Cornyn will shake it 
" to its very centre before he gets here." We are not 
to suppose that this anticipated terrible shaking would 
be through the careless or Jehu-like driving of the 
clerical Mr. Cornyn ; but the remark gives us a very 
strong hint of the kind of roads over which he was 
to pass. 

But at length the trunk with its precious contents 
arrived. His saddle-horse, which had been in trouble 
from too much untimely oats on one occasion, had re- 
covered the free use of his limbs. The winter was 



n8 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

setting in, and the young pastor had settled down to 
steady work, and was able to say in his Journal, " I 
u think I begin to feel more the spirit of preaching — 
" less fear of man, and more of a desire to glorify God 
" in the conversion of souls. " 

The churches which Mr. Eaton was serving as their 
u stated supply" had, after a few months, become so 
" well satisfied with his ministerial qualifications," 
both with his ability as a preacher and his fidelity as a 
pastor, that a call was put into his hands, early in the 
year 1849, to become the pastor of the united congre- 
gations of Franklin and Mount Pleasant. At a pro re 
nata meeting of the Presbytery of Erie, held in the 
Franklin Church on the 7th of February, 1849, he 
was duly ordained and installed. He preached a ser- 
mon, as part of trial for ordination, from 1 John 3 : 9 
— u Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; 
for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because 
he is born of God." 

In the services of the ordination and installation, 
the Rev. Joseph T. Smith, of Mercer, now pastor of 
the Central Church, Baltimore, preached the sermon, 
from 1 Cor. 1 : 23 — " We preach Christ crucified" 
The Rev. Robert Glenn delivered the charge to the 
Pastor ; and the Rev. James Coulter presided, offered 
the ordination prayer, and delivered the charge to the 
people. The services were to the young minister no 
mere ceremony. He was deeply moved, and his con- 
secration to the great work upon which he had fully 
entered was complete. " In God's name I deter- 
mined," he says in his Journal, after the completion of 



Pastoral Life. ng 



the great transaction, "not to know anything among 
11 them (the people of his charge) save Jesus Christ 
" and Him crucified. May God smile upon the union 
" and give me souls." 

In a letter to one of his brothers, a few days after 
his installation, in speaking of the permanent settle- 
ment of one of his clerical friends, a near relative, over 
the church to which he had been called, he expresses 
his own views of the tenure of the pastoral office : 
"I look upon the pastoral relation," he says, "as 
" something sacred — by far too much so to be dis- 
" solved upon light grounds. In relation to Franklin, 
" I must now consider it as my home ; for I think 
" duty called me here ; and as duty demands my stay, 
" I shall be content to live and die among this people 

He at once entered earnestly into the work. It was 
not only his nature to do thoroughly whatever his 
hands found to do ; but there was an additional stim- 
ulus in this case. His immediate predecessor, the 
Rev. Cyrus Dickson, was no ordinary man. He had 
the energy of a Paul, and, when at his best, the elo- 
quence of an Apollos. For eight years, from 1840 to 
1848, he served the Franklin Church with great zeal 
and corresponding success. He was not only a great 
preacher, but a most lovable man. His social quali- 
ties were of the first order, and he was always welcome 
as a visitor in the homes of his parishioners. It was 
with great reluctance that his congregation consented 
to give him up when he asked to be released to take 
charge of the Second Church of Wheeling, Virginia, 
(now West Virginia), to which he had received a call. 



120 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

It was hard to follow a man of a character so high 
both as preacher and pastor, and so greatly beloved. 
But it seemed to put the new pastor on his mettle — 
and he was not found wanting. Of fine scholarship, 
a faithful student of the Bible, a man of prayer, ear- 
nest, conscientious, pure in life, never sparing himself 
when duty called to action, with unwavering faith in 
God, he went straight forward ; and the people soon 
acknowledged that they had found in Mills Eaton a 
worthy successor to Cyrus Dickson. 

It was a small church, yet not a few of its members 
were faithful, ready to stand by their new minister in 
all his work and labor of love. As usual, the godly 
women were the reliable element in the church; and 
though they might not " lead in prayer " (Presbyte- 
rian usage forbidding), yet if they had been absent 
from the prayer- meeting there would have been a 
" beggarly account of empty benches." But whoever 
were present in the little meeting, or absent from it 
the minister was always there ; and he never came 
without a goodly supply of the " well-beaten oil of the 
sanctuary " with which to feed the flame of devotion 
and Christian love. 

What Dr. Eaton said in his " Memorial " of Dr. 
Dickson in the early years of the Franklin pastorate of 
the latter, may be taken as fairly descriptive in a gen ■ 
eral way of the condition of things in the early as well 
as the later period of his own ministry in the same 
church. 



Pastoral Life, 121 



" The church grew slowly during the first years of 
his pastorate in the quiet little town. During the en- 
tire worlq however, there was the gradual healthy in- 
crease that makes the pastor's heart glad. Sometimes 
the young came to him inquiring the way of salvation. 
Sometimes the strong man or woman came to confess 
Christ and take up the duties of the Christian life; 
sometimes the aged at the eleventh hour came ac- 
knowledging the Redeemer of sinners, and testifying 
to His love and faithfulness. And the records of the 
church show that, with an occasional season of revival, 
the additions were regular and constant, showing a 
healthy condition of the church, an encouraging feel- 
ing in the congregation, and testifying to the impres- 
sion that was making in the small church of Franklin/' 

Mr. Eaton's first visit to his old home, after taking 
charge of the Franklin Church, was in the June fol- 
lowing. We can imagine how greatly he would have 
enjoyed it, in the midst of all the brightness and beau- 
ty of the early summer, had the occasion not been a 
very sad one, namely, the very dangerous illness of 
his dear mother. She lingered for many days between 
life and death, and was watched over and cared for by 
him with the most tender solicitude. "We had no 
" hope of her recovery/' he notes in his Journal after 
returning to Franklin. " But God was good. Her 
" mind was calm — her faith fixed on God. She could 
"say, ' Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me/" 
She lived for many years after this, in a good degree 
of health, and with her faculties unimpaired, to the 
great comfort of her son and all the other members of 



122 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

her numerous family; and died, in 1872, at the good 
old age of 92 years. 

In Dr. Eaton's story of " Lakeside/' in which he 
sets forth very pleasantly, in the garb of fiction, the 
home life of his father and mother, he gives a brief 
sketch of the mistress of the country parsonage, which 
seems to find a fitting place here : 

" When she came to Lakeside she was slender in 
person and gracefully formed, with soft blue eyes, a 
wealth of brown hair, and a soft, musical voice. She 
was kind and gentle in her manner, and fitted by na- 
ture and grace to adorn any station in life. She 
brought up her children carefully, and followed them 
always with her prayers and earnest anxieties, until 
she saw them all gathered into the visible Church. 

" Not only did the heart of her husband safely trust 
in her, but the entire congregation reverenced and re- 
spected her as their friend and counsellor. In sick- 
ness and trouble they always expected to see her and 
receive her sympathies and counsel. And often to the 
neglect of her own personal affairs did she engage in 
these missions of comfort and sympathy. Her own 
children never forgot her counsels and entreaties in 
her endeavors to lead them to Christ and the great 
salvation." 

The time and thought that Mr. Eaton gave to the 
private reading of the Bible is well worth noting. 
We have already seen that a year before leaving Col- 
lege he had read it through in course six times. In 
the midst of his absorbing work in the Seminary he 
still continued the practice of the systematic reading 



Pastoral Life. I2J 



of the precious volume; and now, with the care and 
labor of two churches on his hands, he still gives 
many hours every week to the same delightful task. 
For we find him recording on the 14th of February, 
1850, this: "Finished reading the Bible in course 
the ninth time;" and just two years afterwards, "Fin- 
" ished reading the Bible through the tenth time in 
" course." 

This means for an ordinary 12mo Reference Bible 
nearly two pages a day, or twelve pages a week, if the 
reading was at a uniform rate. But at whatever rate, 
it was not done, we know, thoughtlessly, nor on the 
gallop, but deliberately, carefully and in the fear of 
God. Such a man, with such a memory as he had, 
and such a cultivated mind and heart, could not but 
be " mighty in the Scriptures." 

While widely read in the best literature of his na- 
tive tongue, and keeping abreast of the times in 
science and general learning, and in tns acquaintance 
with the progress of events, political, social and relig- 
ious, in his own country and the world at large, he 
was yet in the best sense " the man of one book," and 
that book the Bible. 

As a rule, and unless prevented by circumstances of 
an imperative character, Mr. Eaton was very regular 
in his attendance at the various meetings of the Pres- 
bytery and Synod of his church. He was in this as 
in all other respects a true Presbyterian. He held 
that if it was right that such judicatories should 
exist and should hold meetings from time to time, it 
was the dutv of the ministers and elders that coustitu- 



124 S - 7- M. Eaton, D. D. 

ted them to attend and bear their part in the proceed- 
ings. Whoever therefore might be absent, he seldom 
failed to be present to answer to his name at the open- 
ing of the session, and to perform to the best of his 
ability whatever duty devolved upon him. 

But he was never a great talker in such bodies. He 
was strong in his convictions, clear-headed, sound in 
judgment, but never inclined to urge his opinions with 
undue zeal, or overbearing pertinacity — much less was 
he given to quibbling, or raising fine points, as the 
manner of some is, in the course of a discussion. He 
was calm and thoughtful, watching the progress of 
any question that might be occupying the attention of 
the body; and when the time came, he was ready to 
express his opinion deliberately and earnestly; and 
when he did so it usually carried weight. His fair- 
ness, his fidelity, his calmness, his dignity, his know- 
ledge of parliamentary and Presbyterian law, soon 
made him a leading man both in Presbyterial and Sy- 
nodical meetings; and for the greater part of his min- 
isterial career he was the Stated Clerk of the Presby- 
tery, and for nine years of the Synod, to which he be- 
longed. How well he performed the duties of these 
responsible offices, and with what satisfaction to his 
fellow Presbyters, will appear more at length in an- 
other place. 

The first meeting of Synod which he attended after 
becoming Pastor of the Franklin and Mount Pleasant 
Churches, was held at Beaver, Pa., in the latter part 
of October, 1849. Although both duty and inclina- 
tion led him to go, the fact that it was not far from 



Pastoral Life. 125 



the home of his old friend, the Rev. Cyrus Dickson, 
his predecessor at Franklin, whom he could thus have 
the opportunity of visiting, made the duty a still more 
pleasant one. 

He was fond of letter-writing, and always wrote de- 
lightfully and with an easy and graceful pen. After 
his return from the meeting of the Synod at this time, 
he rattled off a hasty letter to his home keeping broth- 
er Isaac, from which a brief extract is given below : 

"October 29th, 1849. — I have just returned from 
" Synod — tired, sore, sleepy and stupid. I most hear- 
" tily eschew stage travelling ; but when it assumes the 
'• form of a miserable old wagon drawn over rocks and 
" gulfs and stumps, it is past endurance. We had a 
u pleasant meeting of Synod ; but we had to go over 
" rather too much of Beaver County to find lodgings. 
" This last infliction of course would fall most heavily 
" upon ' young men without families.' 

" The Synod met on Wednesday. I remained un- 
" til Saturday noon, when I took a boat and went 
" down to Wheeling to see Mr. Dickson, my ' illus- 
11 trious predecessor.' He is doing very well there. 
"They have a fine church almost completed. The 
" night I got to Wheeling I was almost sure I was 
11 taking the cholera." [That direful disease was then 
prevalent in the country.] " Indeed I believe a fit- 
" ter subject never entered into the city. I remained 
" in Wheeling until Wednesday morning. But the 
" river had fallen so low that I was obliged to return 
11 by stage through Washington, Canonsburg, &c. The 
" meeting of Synod was peculiarly pleasant to me, as 



126 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" it afforded me the opportunity of seeing so many 
" of my old fellow students/' 

Things passed on quietly in Franklin during the 
winter and spring of 1850. He occupied the house of 
Hon. John W. Howe (his future father-in law), who 
was absent with his family in Washington, attending 
upon his duties as member of Congress from the Ven- 
ango District. He kindly offered Mr. Eaton the use 
of two rooms, or as many more as he desired. It was 
a large and elegant house for that day, with a beauti- 
ful flower garden in the rear, and a large yard sur- 
rounding it, in which stood many shade trees. It was 
really a delightful place, and here Mr. Eaton lived like 
a prince so far as lodgings were concerned, but like an 
ordinary mortal in taking his meals in a common 
boarding house across the street. 

In July of this year he was seized with a violent 
attack of dysentery, and brought very near to the 
grave. But the disease was stayed, and he began 
slowly to come back again to life. " The Lord spared 
" me," he writes devoutly ; " and doubtless he has 
" other work for me to perform. I would like to be 
" more faithful in the future. But without grace from 
" on high I shall not be able to do my part in the 
u great vineyard." 

Many persons, who had become greatly attached to 
Rev. S. J. M. Eaton, were deeply concerned for him 
during his dangerous illness, and rejoiced in his happy 
recovery. But there was one in particular, who felt a 
deeper interest in the oracular utterances from day to 
day of the attending physician, than any other of his 



Pastoral Life. 127 



many friends, unless it might be his mother. Who it 

was that felt this deeper interest in the preservation of 

his precious life, is revealed to us in the following 

note, appearing in Mr. Eaton's Private Journal only 

three months after his recovery : " Nov. 5, 1850. 

" This morning was married to Miss Clara T. Howe. 

" The future looks all golden. With God's blessing I 

11 shall be happy — I know I shall." 

Thus the most momentous thing that can come into 

the life of a true man, be he minister or layman, his 

marriage with a noble-hearted Christian woman, had 

come into the life of the young Franklin pastor. He 

lived and labored for nearly forty years after that 

bright 5th of November, 1850, when 

u The solemn vows were spoken 
That never could be broken ;" 

but he never saw the day when he did else than re- 
joice that he had received from the Lord as a wife one 
'• whose price was far above rubies." 

He became acquainted with Miss Howe in 1842, 
while he was a student in the Erie Academy, and she 
attending the Young Ladies' Seminary in the same 
town. It was kept by the Rev. Mr. Fuller and his 
wife in what had formerly been the " United States 
Hotel" — a large brick building on the bank of the 
Lake, near the foot of French street. Although an 
excellent school, the town was not large enough at that 
time to support it. It was therefore closed in the au- 
tumn of 1844, after an existence of two years. Mean- 
time Mr. Eaton had become a student of Jefferson 
College, and she who, years afterwards, was to become 



I2S S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

his wife, went to Troy Female Seminary to complete 
her education. They were thus separated, and did 
not meet again till the young minister took up his res- 
idence in Franklin as pastor of the Presbyterian 
Church there. The acquaintance was renewed, and 
soon ripened into an attachment and intimacy, result- 
ing in their marriage, as already stated, in the fall of 
1850. 

The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Robert 
Glenn, and the happy pair started immediately on 
their bridal tour. It was not a trip to the Eastern 
cities, nor to Europe, nor even to that paradise at that 
period of the newly married, Niagara Falls. After 
the wedding breakfast, they set out for Fairview, Mr. 
Eaton's old home, in a two horse carriage. It was a 
delightful and balmy Indian summer day, and the 
roads, though usually at their worst in November, 
were in excellent condition, and the jaunt over the 
hills and through the shady woods proved to be a de- 
lightful pleasure-trip. 

Mr. Eaton was to preach and administer the com- 
munion in his home church on the following Sabbath; 
and so duty and pleasure were united in making this 
primitive wedding journey. 

After their return to Franklin Mr. and Mrs. Eaton 
took up their residence in the house of Mr. Howe, al- 
ready spoken of, where they remained two or three 
years. After Mr. Howe sold his house, they lived in 
a part of Mr. Bowman's house — occupying the same 
rooms that Dr. Dickson had occupied when he first 



Pastoral Life. 129 



came with his bride to Franklin. Here they remain- 
ed till the parsonage was built some years later. 

It would be impossible, within the limits prescribed 
to this memoir, to follow Mr. Eaton year by year in 
his history as the pastor of Franklin Church. To do 
so would involve much of the history of the town it- 
self; for he bore a part not only in the religious move- 
ments of the community, but also in all its educational, 
literary and charitable enterprises, and in whatever 
was undertaken for the advancement of the best inter- 
ests of all the people. His character, intelligence, 
zeal, and self-denying labors, became part of the 
wealth of the town — property that could not be esti- 
mated in dollars and cents. 

Moreover, the sources of information for many 
years after the period of his marriage are not definite. 
The recorded data are few. Either his letters from 
this time forward were less frequent, or they have not 
been preserved. His Private Journal also comes sud- 
denly to an end. There is but one principal entry in 
it after the 5th of November, 1850, and that tells of 
his going as the Commissioner from his Presbytery to 
the meeting of the General Assembly at St. Louis in 
May, 1851 — truly an honor and a mark of high re- 
gard for one so young in the ministry and so recently 
become a member of the Presbytery. It was a very 
formidable trip to take in those days, the route being 
by water — the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers — all the 
way from Pittsburgh. Returning he came by steamer 
up the Illinois River, and thence, making his way to 
Chicago, he took one of the magnificent Lake steam- 



ijo S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

ers of that day to Buffalo. He then fulfilled a long- 
formed purpose of visiting Niagara Falls — returned 
by steamer to Erie, and thence to his Franklin home, 
having been absent from his people for four Sabbaths. 

More than ordinary success attended Mr. Eaton's 
labors in his small church. Beginning with a mem- 
bership of seventy-one, in 1848, he left it, in 1882, 
with over three hundred — more than seven hundred 
persons (including those deceased or removed) having 
been brought into the church during his pastorate of 
thirty-four years — an average of nineteen each year. 
The growth of course was not uniform ; but his fideli- 
ty, activity, and prayerfulness were constant, and con- 
stantly bore fruit ; and he could say, looking back over 
the history of the church in his time, that there had 
been but one communion occasion during his entire 
pastorate when there had not been some added to the 
church. To the very last seals were set to the faith- 
fulness of his ministry. On the occasion of the final 
communion which he held in the church, after he had 
resigned his charge, in 1882, six young people from 
the Sabbath School were admitted as members of the 
church, — bringing gladness to his heart in the midst 
of the pain he felt at the severing of such tender ties. 

But he did not ignore or condemn special efforts for 
the arousing of the church. He knew that the peo- 
ple, church members and all, would grow cold and in- 
different towards the preaching of the word from Sab- 
bath to Sabbath, however faithfully the message might 
be presented. So he watched for periods of unusual 
interest in the church, and, with the assistance at times 



Pastoral Life. iji 



of his neighboring brethren in the ministry, held spe- 
cial and continued services at several different periods. 
Many were thus awakened and brought to Christ — on 
one such occasion, in 1867, over one hundred were 
added to the church. 

In the earlier period of his ministry, Mr. Eaton 
was accustomed to write his sermons and commit them 
to memory. In later years he would write and read 
his morning discourse, but in the evening would gen- 
erally preach without notes. His pulpit labors were 
always strongly reinforced by personal work among 
his flock. After devoting the forenoon uniformly to 
study, and supplementing this with an hour or two 
after dinner (which was always promptly at noon), he 
would spend the remainder of the day till tea-time 
calling on his parishioners. And this was not now 
and then, or spasmodically, but every day, unless pre- 
vented by special circumstances. The sick and the 
infirm he visited most faithfully. His evenings he 
passed at home ; for he fondly loved his home and his 
wife, and delighted in the quiet pleasures of the do- 
mestic fireside. He was also a very kindly host ; and 
nothing pleased him and his wife more than to receive 
their friends, and especially the young people of the 
congregation, in their own house, and to entertain 
them, at their table. 

The social side of Mr. Eaton's character was — if 
one may be allowed to say so — all around him. He 
was most approachable at all times, and his geniality 
and warmth radiated out to all who came near him. 
This arose from his intrinsic kindness of heart and 



TJ2 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

disposition, made sunny and sweet by the graces of 
the Divine Spirit. He was, without qualification, a 
true Christian gentleman. He had dignity without 
pride or pretence, condescension without affectation, 
kindliness without seeming officious. One never 
thought his pleasant words were born on the lips, or 
that his genial smile was the silver edge to a sneer. 

He was genuine through and through ; and for a 
man with positive convictions which he was not afraid 
boldly to express on all proper occasions, it seems im- 
possible — and yet it is true — that he made no enemies, 
and sowed no seeds that grew to weeds of bitterness. 
Sensitive to a fault himself, and often suffering keenly 
from the inadvertent remarks or thoughtless acts of 
others, he never retaliated, and never allowed the 
barbed arrow to rankle in his heart. He plucked it 
forth with whatever pain, and soon the wound was 
healed and the scar forgotten. 

On the subject of the social side of his character, a 
gentleman who knew him intimately for forty years 
has kindly furnished to the writer the following well 
drawn estimate of him : 

"He was the most accessible of men. His pastoral 
duties, however absorbing and burdensome they might 
be, did not prevent him from frequently visiting the 
members of his congregation. His social intercourse 
was not, however, confined to the membership of his 
own congregation. He was the friend of all around 
him, irrespective of creed or station in life. His gen- 
ial presence in many a home ; his words of sympathy 
and comfort to those in affliction or distress; his unas- 



Pastoral Life. 133 



suming ways and innate kindness, left the impression 
upon all who knew him that he was a friend as well 
as a pastor. 

" These loving characteristics will keep his name a 
1 household word ' long after the remembrance of his 
purely intellectual qualities is dimmed or lost alto- 
gether. As a man of great and varied learning, he 
was esteemed ; as a sympathetic counsellor and friend, 
he was loved." 

He took great interest in the young people of the 
church. He never failed to be present in the Sunday 
school, and taught the Bible Class. At the Wednes- 
day evening meeting, he lectured upon a portion of 
the Scriptures, taking the Bible in course; and the 
portion thus presented was the lesson for the school 
the next Sabbath. This was before the International 
Sunday School Lessons came into use. He went 
through the entire Bible in this way, and it took 
twelve years and six months to complete the course, 

His whole heart was in his church work. It has 
been said of him that "he loved his people almost to 
idolatry;" and his choir was to him as the very apple 
of his eye. He was never suspicious of any one, and 
it was very hard to make him believe evil of one who 
had been his friend. 

He was fond of company ; and although he could 
not be called a great talker, he was by no means a si- 
lent man. He was genial and full of information — 
had good ideas and expressed himself fluently and 
easily. He was naturally diffident, and had a man- 
nerism of voice and bearing that was not always 



134 s - 7- M - Eaton, D. D. 

agreeable to strangers. But all this disappeared on 
closer acquaintance. Nor did he confine his goodness 
of heart and deed to the members of his own congre- 
gation. The whole town knew him, and the whole 
town loved him. 

He had great self-control. If he had a "temper," 
he never let it show itself in action or speech, at home 
or elsewhere. He was always cheerful, kind, and 
thoughtful for others. He was touched by any kind- 
ness to himself. Once, after two of his congregation 
had been in to see him, he seemed greatly affected, 
even to tears. When asked what they had been saying 
or doing, when he could speak he said they had given 
him money to take a vacation. 

The salary paid him during the first few years of 
his ministry was very inadequate, but $500 a year. 
But he was able with his wife, by great economy, to 
subsist on this meagre sum. But his health had be- 
come impaired, and his eyes much affected; and these 
reasons, added to the consideration of his insufficient 
salary, induced him, at the close of the year 1856, to 
tender his resignation as pastor of the church. His 
people were very reluctant to unite with him in asking 
a dissolution of the pastoral relation ; but they did 
not feel able at that time to increase his salary. They 
therefore, at a congregational meeting, deploring the 
causes which compelled a separation with their be- 
loved pastor, adopted the following Resolution : 
"That this congregation grant the request of Mr. 
Eaton, and unite with him in asking Presbytery to 
dissolve the happy connection which has for more than 



Pastoral Life. 135 



eight years existed between us." The Presbytery at 
its next meeting granted the request. 

But Mr. Eaton continued to preach in the church 
during the winter, and the next summer took a trip 
into the " far west/' as it then was — the Minneapolis 
region. The journey proved very beneficial to his 
health, and especially to his eyes, which he feared 
were giving out. While there, he was invited to take 
charge of a church at St. Anthony's Falls, now a part 
of Minneapolis. But he declined the call and return- 
ed to Franklin. He found his attachment to the 
church and the work was too strong to be easily 
thrown aside. At a meeting of the congregation held 
in January, 1858, he was invited to again take charge 
of the church, and he agreed to remain as stated sup- 
ply on the condition that the congregation would erect 
a suitable parsonage during the year, and subsequent- 
ly increase his salary. This was agreed to and the 
parsonage was built. Mr. Eaton had the privilege of 
planning the house to suit himself and his wife, and 
it was made exactly to their liking. It was very con- 
venient in all its appointments and arrangements, and 
was to the faithful pastor and his wife, for a quarter 
of a century, a veritable " little Paradise." 

Mr. Eaton was subject at times to attacks of severe 
nervous headache, but in spite of these afflictions he 
never flinched from duty, nor failed to keep his ap- 
pointments. In the earlier part of his ministry he in- 
dulged in no vacations, but worked on for years night 
and day, and by the time the mid-summer heats would 
come he would simply be obliged to take to his bed 



ij6 S. y. M. Eaton, D. D. 

for a time. In later years, however, through his own 
sense of duty to himself and his church, and at the 
urgent advice of friends, he would seek rest and re- 
creation away from home — by the seaside, or in the 
mountains, or at ever delightful Chautauqua; and 
thereafter he escaped the severe illness that, in pre- 
vious years, had usually come upon him. 

MOUNT PLEASANT CHURCH. 

In 1855 Mr. Eaton had become strongly impressed 
with the thought that he must give up his church in 
the country. The distance of the Mount Pleasant 
charge from Franklin, the bad condition of the roads 
during most of the year, and the laborious character 
of the work itself in a sparse settlement, all conspired 
to bring him to the conclusion that he must ask to be 
relieved from the care of that church. There were 
many things in connection with the charge that made 
him reluctant to surrender it. He was attached to the 
people. They were kind to him and evidently were 
well pleased with his ministrations ; and considerable 
success had attended his labors. But the church of 
Franklin was constantly growing in numbers and im- 
portance, and was sufficient for the careful oversight 
— the bishoping — of one man, and he felt that he could 
accomplish more good by concentrating his thoughts 
and energies upon the one work. The Presbytery 
therefore at his request released him from the care of 
Mount Pleasant. 

But the six years he spent there, although giving 
but one-third of his time to the work, were not spent 



Pastoral Life. 137 



in vain, and he is still remembered with great affec 
tion and esteem by the older people in the church. 
Some reminiscences of his ministry among them have 
been pleasantly recalled by a lady who was one of the 
11 young people " in that early time, and she has kind- 
ly communicated them to the writer. "I can truly 
say," she writes, u that whatever is necessary to make 
a faithful, godly minister was exemplified in Mr. 
Eaton's daily life; and years after, when he occasion- 
ally came among us, it was only necessary to announce 
that he was going to preach for us to insure a larger 
audience. Both old and young would come to see and 
hear the pastor we all loved and honored so much. 

"To me his sermons were always full of the very 
marrow of the Gospel. He always aimed to bring his 
hearers 'very near to the Master' — as he once said to 
me when we talked together after one of his inimita- 
bly precious sermons. How well I remember his first 
sermon preached at Mt. Pleasant forty years ago, from 
the text, ' For as by one man's disobedience,' &c. 
Rom. 5:19. 

"In his preaching he was never aggressive, but al- 
ways striving for ' the things that make for peace.' 
So far did he succeed in this that persons of all de- 
nominations esteemed and honored him. There was a 
steady ingathering into the church during the period 
of his ministry. Of all that were connected with it 
at that time but five remain. He remarked on one 
occasion that all his old congregation were 'out in the 
church-yard.' 



138 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

"One thing must not be forgotten — his perfectly 
blameless life. There was no neglected duty. No 
foolish jest ever passed his lips; and especially did he 
dislike jesting on sacred subjects. Although grave, he 
was most fascinating in conversation." 

The following pleasant incidents in Dr. Eaton's 
Mount Pleasant experience are furnished by the same 
hand : 

" Even at that time (1849) there were some of the 
old-fashioned log houses with but one room ; and 
sometimes our good pastor must accommodate himself 
to circumstances not the most pleasant. He was of 
course expected to visit all his people without distinc- 
tion, and then as now some would be offended if not 
visited. In one of these families there were a number 
of sons and daughters, some of them nearly grown up; 
and if our good minister found it embarrassing to re- 
tire to the bed pointed out to him as his place of re- 
pose, it was a much more delicate matter to make his 
toilet in the morning, in the presence of the family — 
especially of the young ladies, to whom no amount of 
yawning and fussing suggested the fact that Mr. E. 
would like to rise and they had better leave the room 
for a few minutes. But as the breakfast was nearly 
prepared — table spread not far from the bed — he saw 
no other way but to turn out, a rather difficult thing 
for a modest young man like Mr. Eaton. But the 
amusing part was yet to come. After donning his 
garments, a tin cup of water was given him, with a 
motion of the hand to a stump out in the door yard, 



Pastoral Life. 139 



on which was a wash-basin which had been used by 
the whole family. 

" I will relate another incident which will serve to 
show the stuff our minister was made of. Late one 
Saturday evening, as Mr. Eaton was wending his way 
towards Mt. Pleasant, where he was to preach on the 
Sabbath, as he rode along, by mistake he took a road 
that led him into a wood-chopping, where timber was 
cut down and made into charcoal for a furnace near 
by. Well, Mr. Eaton got in but he couldn't get out. 
While investigating the situation he observed a light 
not far off and concluded to call for help, which he 
did without success. But after another call, which he 
said was a 'regular Indian whoop,' a man came to his re- 
lief and very kindly took him to his own home — another 
1 one-roomed' house. A few moments after entering 
he was asked if he had had the measles ; for there in 
that one room lay six children sick with the measles. 
I suppose he had already experienced that malady, for 
he remained. 

" After supper his host inquired if he would like to re- 
tire. Mr. E. was willing, but told him that it was his 
custom to have prayers before retiring for the night. 
The man thereupon very willingly produced a Bible 
from the shelf, and the minister, after reading a chap- 
ter knelt with the family, and commended them and 
himself to the care of their Heavenly Father— perhaps 
the only prayer ever offered in that house. Arrange- 
ments were then made for a bed by bringing bed- 
clothes down a ladder from a loft above ; and there on 
the floor a bed was made for him, on which he rested 



140 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

his tired frame till the morning, when, after breakfast, 
he hastened on to fill his appointment. w 

Dr. Eaton held a communion service in Mount 
Pleasant Church in October, 1888. There was a large 
attendance on the occasion. The lady who has com- 
municated the facts and incidents given above says of 
this communion season : " I well remember, at the 
close of this last precious service held by this honored 
servant of God, that he requested all who had known 
him in the long ago to come forward that he might 
take them by the hand, although he might not remem- 
ber them personally. Many presented themselves, 
some of whom must have been little children in the 
years when he was pastor of the church. Yet it did 
them good, so cordial was his greeting to them ; and 
how honored I felt to have him for our guest during 
this last visit." 



— QJ^^^}33— 



CHAPTER VII. 
PASTORAL LIFE— Continued. 

In 1861 Mr. Eaton was again a Commissioner to 
the General Assembly. This was the Assembly at 
which the Resolutions, offered by Dr. Spring, in sup- 
port of the Government in its contest with armed re- 
bellion, were adopted — resolutions which created 
intense interest throughout the Church. He stood 
firmly with those who gave their influence and votes 
for the Government in this crisis in its history. 

Subsequently he gave the same loyal and unwaver- 
ing support to the cause of his country, whenever a 
fitting opportunity was offered. In 1864 he volun- 
teered his services in the " Christian Commission," 
which at that time was rendering an immense service 
to the soldiers in the hospital and on the field. Al- 
though the actual time that he spent in this service was 
not long, yet it was such an episode in his life as a pas- 
tor, and afforded such experience in dealing with men 
in their time of greatest need and suffering, as seems 
to deserve to be treated by itself, and is therefore re- 
served for a short chapter further on. 

No small part of Dr. Eaton's valuable service to the 
people of Franklin was that rendered in his character 
as a teacher of the Classics, and of the higher branches 
of an English education. In the earlier days of his 



i 4 2 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

residence in the town the schools were not what they 
now are ; and it was a great benefit to the ingenuous 
youths and maidens of the place to find a scholarly 
gentleman like Dr. Eaton not only willing to direct 
them in their studies, but abundantly competent to be- 
come their teacher, and their guide along the paths of 
polite learning. It was of course at much sacrifice of 
valuable time that he could render this service to his 
young friends ; yet he did it heartily, and evidently 
took pleasure in the work. A lady, one of his pupils of 
those early days, has been kind enough to give a sketch 
of Dr. Eaton's valuable service as a teacher — written 
in a style that still shows plainly enough the effect of 
the careful culture then received. The sketch is copied 
below : 

"It was my privilege to have Dr. Eaton as a teach- 
er of the higher branches of education, which were not 
then generally taught in the schools of Franklin. 

" His desire to be helpful in every way to those 
under his pastoral charge, led him to place his own 
scholarly attainments at the service of those whom 
they might benefit, notwithstanding his delicate health, 
and fully occupied time. The number of his pupils 
seemed not to enter into his account. There were 
only two of us at first. In a few weeks or months 
one and another applied for a place under his care; 
and looking back, half a score or more rise before my 
mind who were for a longer or shorter time his pupils. 
All these owned in after years their indebtedness to the 
good Doctor for culture and development of the high- 
est faculties of mind and heart. 



Pastoral Life. 143 

" Scholarly himself, he set a high value on learning 
and literature; and he had the faculty of making them 
attractive to those with whom he came in contact, and 
imbuing his pupils with something of his own enthu- 
siasm for high attainments in letters. 

"In his nature refined, in his aims pure and noble, 
his influence was elevating; and they who cared only 
for advancement in letters and philosophy, received 
from him a higher gift unconsciously. 

" As a teacher he was thorough, and maintained a 
high standard for the pupil's attainment. Yet he was 
patient and willing to explain difficulties until all was 
clear. His evident satisfaction in a good rendering of 
a passage in the classics, or a clearly stated solution 
of a difficult problem in mathematics, was a full re- 
ward for the effort made in the preparation of the 
lesson. 

" Dr. Dickson, when visiting Franklin, probably at 
the time of the dedication of the Presbyterian church, 
spoke to me very impressively of Dr. Eaton's good 
work for the young people of this place to whom he 
had been an instructor. Praising, in his charming 
way, the intelligence, correct judgment, and good taste 
of those he had met — grown from childhood to young 
manhood and womanhood since his own departure — 
he attributed much to Dr. Eaton's careful work as an 
educator, to his superior scholarship, and to the refine- 
ment of his ideal of character. He trusted we would 
set a high value upon our advantages in having such 
a man with us. 



144 s 7- M - Eaton, D. D. 

"And, surely, if we did not always hold these in as 
high estimation as we ought, we learned with the com-, 
ing of more thoughtful years to appreciate them ; and 
added years only increase the feeling. Happy man ! 
ever more loving and beloved. Blessed work ! more 
and more beneficent and highly prized." 

In the year 1866-7 it began to be thought that the 
plain old " meeting-house," that had served the un- 
ambitious Presbyterians of Franklin for forty years or 
more, had become too strait, and unmistakably ap- 
peared too mean, for a congregation that had grown so 
large, aud — through the prosperity that had come to 
the town by the great development of Oil — so abund- 
ant "in this world's goods." So they resolved to 
build a new church ; and in those "booming" days 
resolving was but a prelude to executing. 

A Building Committee was appointed without delay ; 
and the pastor, energetic and willing to work for the 
good of the church wherever placed, was made the 
Chairman. He kept a careful eye to all the details — 
the preparation of the plans and specifications, the 
character of the materials employed, the excellency of 
the work done, and the prices paid ; and he was careful 
throughout that the workmen engaged should receive 
their wages promptly. Not a Saturday night passed 
without their receiving the money due them. If there 
was not money enough in the treasury on any pay-day, 
he would advance it from his own slender means — 
saying, " It is better for us to go without than for 
them." 



Pastoral Life. 145 



The new church was at length completed — a beauti- 
ful and graceful brick edifice, with a Sunday School 
and conference room and a pastor's study in the rear. 
Before leaving the plain old house of worship, around 
and within which clustered so many memories, a fare- 
well service was held within its walls on the 7th of 
March, 1869. The pastor preached an appropriate 
discourse from the text : u One generation passefh 
away, and another generation eometh" The occasion 
as well as the text suggested a review of the past his- 
tory of the church. He spoke of his predecessors in 
the pastorate ; then of the elders — ten in all who had 
served the church during its existence of fifty-two 
years — "five of them are upon the earth and five we 
hope with God." Speaking of the " passing away " 
of the generations of members of the church, Mr. 
Eaton remarked : " The administration of the three 
" pastors will divide the history of the church thus far 
" into three periods. In the first, Mr. Anderson at his 
il coming found 32 members in the church. Of these 
" but two are now in the church and six now living. 
" The second pastor, Dr. Dickson, found at his 
" coming 42 members in the church, of whom 
" twelve are now living, but only eight at 
" present in membership in the church. The third 
" period is under the present pastor. He found at his 
"coming a membership of 71, of whom thirty-five 
" are now living, but only eighteen in present mem- 
u bership. r 

The good pastor never let an opportunity pass with- 
out speaking a good word of the choir — which "dur- 



146 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

ing all these years/' he said, " has been worthy of all 
" praise, and an especial feature of the church, and the 
u subject of frequent compliment from strangers." At 
that time the choir had no leader ; — but, " all are 
" leaders and all are governors, yet they conduct their 
" affairs with great harmony and propriety." 

The new church was dedicated with appropriate cer- 
emonies on the first of April, 1869. A year passed 
prosperously, and still another was well on its course, 
when it dawned on the minds of the people of Frank- 
lin church that their pastor — church-builder and 
preacher and pastor and helper in every good work — 
might well feel the need of a period of rest and recu- 
peration. They resolved that he should have it, and 
in their generosity — their sense of duty and justice 
rather — they gave him a vacation of five or six months 
and a liberal sum of money with which to assist him 
in making a visit to Europe and the Holy Land. It 
had been the desire of his life that he might sometime 
tread the ground his Savior had trod while on earth ; 
and he was beyond Expression grateful for the kind- 
ness of his devoted people. This was in 1871. He 
left home in February and returned in July following, 
— giving full time for a satisfactory visit to the prin- 
cipal cities of central and southern Europe, the land 
of Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Palestine. He joined 
himself to one of Cook's parties ; and one of his per- 
sonal friends* from the days of his College and Sem- 
inary life was, much to his delight, in the same com- 
pany. 

*Rev. Win. F. Kean. 



Pastoral Life. 147 



This trip, like the episode of his service in the 
Christian Commission, will be spoken of more at 
length in another place. He utilized every moment 
of his time while absent, took notes of all he saw, and 
wrote frequent letters for the benefit of his Franklin 
friends, which were published in one of the local 
papers. 

Dr. Eaton's service as Stated Clerk of the Pres- 
bytery of Erie for many years (he was elected in 
1857), and also as Stated Clerk of the dissolved Synod 
of Erie, deserves special mention in a sketch of his 
ministerial career. It was not a burdensome work, 
especially to a man of the methodical habits and easy 
carefulness of Dr. Eaton. But to do the work well, 
attending to all the details of printing what was re- 
quired, sending out notices to ministers and churches, 
accurately transcribing the minutes, &c., &c, required 
time and labor, and was just so much more added to a 
life of labor and care that was already full to the brim. 
One of his early friends,* writing of him in regard to 
this special service rendered to the church, says : " I 
only know what is known to every member of the 
Presbytery, and to all members of the dissolved Synod 
of Erie (especially the former; for he was Stated Clerk 
of Presbytery many years), that he was, as Stated 
Clerk, careful, pains-taking, accurate, attentive, and 
courteous to all. No one could have been found who 
would have excelled him — few who would have been 
his equal. It was an office for the work of which he 
was peculiarly well qualified by reason of his extensive 



*Dr. John V. Reynolds, of Meadville. 



i 4 S S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

and exact knowledge of ecclesiastical affairs, including 
laws and government, and decisions by superior judi- 
catories ; as also by reason of his industrious habits. 
All his brethren in the Presbytery, knowing these 
things, had very great confidence in his opinions and 
in his judgment. 

" It will be no easy matter to fill his place. For to 
his natural and acquired qualifications in other re- 
spects he added, during the later years of his work, the 
advantage of a large experience." 

Dr. Eaton's last work as Stated Clerk of his Pres- 
bytery was done at the meeting held in Warren in 
April, 1889, and in engrossing the minutes of that 
session. Within three months thereafter he had ap- 
peared before a higher judicatory than any on earth, 
and doubtless had heard the approving judgment of 
the Head of the Church, " Well done, good and 
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

In 1869 Washington and Jefferson College honored 
itself by bestowing on Mr. Eaton the honorary title 
of D. D. We may be sure the title was not sought, 
and was received with reluctance. Colleges have 
often been charged, and perhaps sometimes not unjust- 
ly, with being too liberal and easy in bestowing 
their favors on their sons, and even on strangers ; and 
a member of the Board of Trustees soon discovers that 
one of his most useful functions is that of being the 
medium of bringing an obscure but worthy friend to 
the knowledge of his fellows on the Board, and secur- 
ing for him a coveted title. It would be w 7 ell if all 



Pastoral Life. 14c) 



who receive titles were as worthy of the honor as was 
Dr. Eaton. He certainly was thoroughly instructed 
in the doctrines and polity of his church, and was a 
sound and able theologian, and was therefore, as St. 
Paul says, " able to teach others also " — the primal 
qualification for being a " Doctor of Divinity." 

As to the character of Dr. Eaton's preaching, it was 
first of all thoroughly evangelical. Although keeping 
himself fully acquainted w 7 ith the advances of science, 
and with the new phases of religious thought ; taking 
a deep interest in all the great movements of the day, 
educational, reformatory, and political, and holding 
decided opinions on all great questions that were occu- 
pying the public mind, he still made the Gospel of 
Christ the great theme of his preaching ; and this he 
presented with as little admixture of mere human 
philosophy as possible. 

A man so thoroughly spiritual, so filled with the 
knowledge of the Bible, which he had made, as we 
have already seen, his life-long study, and so imbued 
with the Spirit of Christ, could not but make his 
preaching evangelical and spiritual. Of course he 
would now and then preach a sermon for the times, 
on Thanksgiving Day or other such occasions ; but 
this was the rare exception. " Christ and him cruci- 
fied," " Ye must be born again," " Mortify therefore 
your members," "Jesus Only," "Night of Toil," 
"Following Christ; When?" "The Great Gift," 
"Directions for the Way." "The Power of the Un- 
seen," " Unbelief and Ridicule," " The Bible God's 
Book " — such texts and topics were the constant 



150 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

themes of his preaching. His aim never was merely 
to catch the popular ear, or to tickle the fancy, or to 
make a show of his learning. 

Like all successful preachers, Dr. Eaton had his 
own peculiar or individual style of sermonizing. In- 
deed there are almost as many styles of sermons as 
there are men who preach them. The Theological 
Seminaries teach Homiletics, or sermon-making, as 
they also teach Theology, Church History, <&c. But 
the Theology is not iron-bound. The Church History 
is true as to the main facts, but the sources are various, 
and the writers were subject to bias through the influence 
of imagination and prejudice. So sermon-making is 
not according to any fixed and invariable model. 
Each preacher gets what he can out of the schools and 
the books and from his observation of other preachers; 
but after all, if he is a true man, with force of charac- 
ter and with originality, he will make his sermons on 
his own plan, and preach as conscience, and taste, and 
the character of his congregation, or the exigencies of 
the occasion, demand. 

Dr. Eaton perhaps was not conscious of following 
any model in his sermonizing. He doubtless was in- 
fluenced by what he read in books of sermons, and he 
was directed to a greater or less extent by writers on 
Homiletics and by his instructors in the Seminary. 
But he had a style and manner of his own. One 
strong characteristic of his sermons was ornateness. 
He had a poetic and elevated style of expression, and 
seldom stooped to the common-place. His constant 
study of the Bible, and especially his reading and re- 



Pastoral Life. 151 



reading of the Psalms, of the Prophecies of Isaiah, 
and of other highly poetical and figurative portions of 
the Holy Word, seemed to have had a strong influence 
upon his modes of thought; so that in speaking on 
Bible themes, his speech naturally flowed out in the 
elevated and rhythmic style of the inspired poets of 
the Book. 

But he was not always disposed to practice the lofty 
style of discourse. The simplicity and directness of 
the first three Evangelists, and the powerful and 
sweeping logic of St. Paul, equally with the highly 
figurative language of Isaiah and the Seer of Patmos, 
had their influence upon the character of his thought 
and expression. He had a poetic temperament; and 
his memory was very retentive of the burning words 
and vivid figures of speech in which, through the 
medium of poets and seers, the mind of the Spirit is 
conveyed to the human understanding; and it was 
easy to let his thoughts flow in a similar lofty strain. 
In another chapter of this Memoir will be found 
some further account of him as a preacher, with ex- 
tended selections from some of his sermons. 

An intelligent and scholarly gentleman who was 
one of his constant hearers for many years, makes the 
following discriminating estimate of his qualities and 
ability, both as a preacher and pastor : 

" He was not a dogmatic preacher ; but he held the 
tenets of the church, as they have come down through 
the centuries, as teaching a pure philosophy. His ser- 
monizing was more particularly practical; but he would 
give us occasionally a doctrinal sermon. After listen- 



ij2 S. y. M. Eaton, D. D. 

ing to one of these we went home realizing we were 
Presbyterians. 

" He was methodical and practical in his church 
work. He was not aggressive ; but when his notions 
and the church discipline were attacked, he was always 
ready to meet the emergency. I remember two very 
strong pulpit efforts. One was to combat the idea of 
a loose observance of the Sabbath; the other was on 
Baptism. In these discourses he was clear, biblical, 
and orthodox. 

" He was not a pulpit orator, as the world's notion 
is; but his fine sentiment, his clear, terse sentences, 
and his feeling manner of expression, made him at 
times eloquent and oratorical. 

" In his career as a minister he treated his congre- 
gation to that which fell to the lot of few — a systema- 
tic, seriatim analysis of the Bible from its beginning 
to its end, in his Wednesday evening prayer meetings. 
These meetings were interesting, entertaining and in- 
structive. 

" In his character of pastor, his conversation was 
instructive and ennobling — even his figure was pre- 
possessing and his presence commanding. These 
qualities made his pastoral visits pleasurable. He 
watched over two generations in his work. This alone 
would be incentive sufficient to beget in him love and 
appreciation for his flock. He was indeed a good 
shepherd. He was fond of the young, but was not 
demonstrative. His sick were always looked after, 
prayed for and watched ; and when death came, he 
was the friend who was sought and whose consoling 



Pastoral Life. 153 



words gave strength and comfort to the bereaved. 
'The poor he had with him/ These were carefully 
looked after, and his charities were unostentatious, but 
full and free." 

But the time at length came when the tender ties 
that bound him to the Franklin Church — tender and 
strong almost as those that unite the true husband and 
wife — must be severed. He had spent his strength in 
that church for thirty-four years. A very large pro- 
portion of those who sat from Sabbath to Sabbath in 
the pews before him, listening to his earnest and gra- 
cious words, had received the drops of baptismal con- 
secration as infants from his hand. A communion roll 
of seventy had stretched to seven hundred, through 
the blessing of God on his devoted and prayerful 
labors. 

A tumble-down, racked and unattractive meeting- 
house had leaped into a beautiful temple for the wor- 
ship of Almighty God ; and his was the directing 
brain, using the free and abundant offerings of the 
people, and with their willing co-operation, that had 
worked the beautiful transformation. Thirteen years 
had passed since the new house had been entered and 
dedicated — years of prosperity and growth, — years 
when many scores and even hundreds of the young 
and old of a flock well " watched and tended " had 
been brought into the safe fold of the True Shepherd ; 
and all through these years, the faithful pastor, amid 
many tears and cares, but always full of hope and re- 
joicing, had never grown weary of his work, but still 



154 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" loved the gates of Zion" — his Zion, and could utter 
from his heart the benediction "Peace be within thy 
walls, and prosperity within thy palaces." 

But age was creeping on. The strong men who had 
stood by him and stayed up his hands in the hard 
early days of his ministry, were gone. The young 
men and young women of that time had been growing 
old with him — and many of them had " passed to the 
other side." The babies and little children of thirty- 
four years ago, were now mature men and women, and 
even their children made up that large and very im- 
portant class found in every church called u the young 
people." 

This condition of things suddenly dawned upon the 
good pastor one day — perhaps while standing before 
his looking glass, in which white hairs and a grizzled 
beard and wrinkled face confronted him. " Perhaps 
some of my good people are thinking of a younger 
minister," he may have said to himself. u Perhaps 
my work is done here." " Perhaps God has work for 
me to do in some other part of the vineyard, more 
suited to my declining years." 

He hesitated and prayed. The thought of leaving 
a work that had. lain so long on his heart, and a peo- 
ple who had been ever generous and kind and to 
whom he was deeply attached, caused him great grief. 
But his duty seemed clear. He wrote out his resigna- 
tion and put it into the hands of his Session. 

There was great astonishment among the people 
when the step he had taken came to be known. There 
was reluctance, and many protests were uttered. But 



Pastoral Life, 155 



the die was cast. Jf whispers of things he had thought 
had not yet been uttered they soon would be, and 
would reach his ears. Better leave the pulpit in the 
midst of the love and good will of the hundreds of his 
people, and when the church was at the acme of its 
prosperity, than " linger superfluous on the stage," to 
be pushed off & few years later. 

A meeting of the church was called to act on the 
beloved pastor's resignation. Tears were shed, and 
hearty words of protest and regret were spoken ; but 
he persisted in the step he had taken ; and the people 
reluctantly acquiesced. The following is the minute 
adopted at the congregational meeting held on the 8th 
of February, 1882, and which the Commissioner ap- 
pointed on the part of the church was directed to pre- 
sent to the Presbytery in uniting with Dr. Eaton in 
the request to dissolve the pastoral relation : 

"The Rev.S. J. M.Eaton, D.D., pastor of this church, 
" having resigned the pastoral office and requested 
" the church to appoint a Commissioner to unite with 
" him in asking the Presbytery of Erie to dissolve the 
11 pastoral relation, and that request having been com- 
" plied with : This congregation do now by this min- 
" ute testify cur appreciation of his faithful services, 
" and our regret at the occasion which seems to render 
" this separation necessary. 

" During his long pastorate, extending over more 
11 than a third of a century, he has been abundant in 
" labors among us; — ministering unto the sick ; affec- 
11 tionately and lovingly tendering the consolations of 
" the Gospel to the dying ; comforting those who 



ij6 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

mourned ; administering the sacraments ; never fail- 
ing to declare the whole counsel of God with an ear- 
nestness that left no room for doubt as to his own 
convictions; never seeking to gratify itching ears 
with another gospel than Paul preached. Whenever 
the assaults of infidelity and modern unbelief have 
been especially felt in this community, as has more 
than once happened during his ministry, he has not 
only been found armed for the conflict with the 
sword of the Spirit, but has brought to the defense 
of Christianity a mind stored with varied learning, - 
and has thus been able to strengthen the people in 
both faith and knowledge. 

" With a truly catholic spirit he has shunned denom- 
inational controversy, yet when the occasion really 
demanded it, he has defended the distinctive doc- 
trines of Presbyterianism with that ripe scholarship 
which so preeminently fits him for polemic discus- 
sion ; and while he has thoroughly convinced us 
that the doctrines of our church are scriptural, and 
that our usages have the sanction of apostolic and 
patristic precedent, he has neither given occasion for 
offence, nor offended others who, in the liberty of the 
Gospel, differ from us in non-essentials. To him is 
largely due that fraternal spirit which has so long 
pervaded the churches of this city. 

u During all the years of his ministry and in every 
relation which he has sustained, his example has been 
a sermon, and his life 'a benediction — not to this 
Church and Congregation alone — but to the entire 
community/ 7 



Pastoral Life. 157 



The Presbytery of Erie, at a pro re nata meeting 
held on the 14th of February, 1882, took action on 
the united request of the Pastor and Congregation of 
Franklin Church, and dissolved the pastoral relation 
that had subsisted between them with such cordial 
good will and mutual helpfulness for so many years. 

Dr. Eaton ceased to be the pastor of the Franklin 
Church, and ere long his successor was chosen and in- 
stalled. But his attached people were not willing to 
see him withdrawn from the town, which he had 
served in many ways as faithfully and efficiently as he 
had served the church. Their neighbor and friend 
and helper, as well as their pastor, for more than the 
third of a century, they hoped that he would still 
make his home among them. And both to show their 
high regard and love for him, and their appreciation of 
his worth as a citizen, and also as an additional induce- 
ment to him to cast in his lot among them for the 
remainder of his days, they presented him with a val- 
uable town lot, on the corner of Elk and 14th streets. 
The small house that stood upon it Dr. Eaton after- 
wards replaced by the handsome structure that became 
his home for the remainder of his days. The gift of 
this property was a graceful act, gracefully and kindly 
done, and cemented, if anything were wanting to that 
result, the cordial and harmonious relations of the late 
pastor and his people. 

It will certainly be no inappropriate closing to this 
sketch of the Pastoral Life of Dr. Eaton, and of the 
estimate of his character and worth that has been at- 
tempted, if there be appended thereto the following 



J5S S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

tributes from some of his closest personal friends — 
who had been associated with him in church relations 
for many years, and who had intimate relations with 
him to the last — although this may be at the risk of 
repeating some facts, and estimates of character, already 
brought out in the course of this Memoir. 

I. 

" Dr. Eaton as a pastor was most conscientious and 
faithful, sparing himself no self-denial, and always 
most judicious in his methods. To the sick and those 
in trouble he was a true friend, full of sympathy and 
kindness. He was largely a literary man, and as such 
greatly interested in Schools, Colleges and all literary 
projects and questions, and ever ready to do or say 
some kind thing. 

" He took a special interest in the Sabbath School. 
He was the most interesting Bible Class teacher I ever 
met. It was difficult to keep teachers for the other classes, 
so great was the desire to 4 go into Dr. Eaton's class/ 
Our Wednesday evening meetings were especially in- 
teresting, mainly on account of his lectures, which 
were highly prized by all. They were full of interest 
and instruction, and were quite informal. 

"As to revivals in the Church : I can bear witness 
to two of the greatest revivals in his church that I 
ever saw. One began in his absence, and when he re- 
turned he of course was delighted, and at once entered 
into the spirit of the work and conducted it to a most 
successful end. Any one at all acquainted with revi- 
vals knows the difficulties attending and following 



Pastoral Life. 159 



them. In this regard he was the most judicious pas- 
tor it would be possible to find. Whilst he never en- 
couraged any unusual excitement, yet he was careful 
to see that a thorough work of grace seemed to be 
wrought in the heart, and to warn new converts of the 
dangers in the way. 

11 In the pulpit he was a thorough preacher — well in- 
formed on all questions, and on many occasions truly 
eloquent. During our cruel war, especially on 
Thanksgiving occasions, I have heard him preach 
some of the most eloquent sermons I ever heard — and 
I have heard Beecher and other great preachers. Be- 
ing in thorough accord with the Union sentiment, his 
whole heart went into the subject. Many of his ser- 
mons were written, but he preached as well extempor- 
aneously. In his earlier ministry he told me that he 
wrote out and committed his sermons; and when I 
spoke of the labor, he said that after writing a sermon 
and reading it over two or three times, he could repeat 
it verbatim. His memory seemed to be prodigious. 
I have seen him baptize a dozen children of both 
sexes, with double names in many cases, conclude the 
services, and at some later time, write them all down 
from memory without error. 

" His style was somewhat ornate, but always clear, 
logical, and scholarly. He has often said to me that 
his aim was to preach ' Christ and him crucified/ 
He was a most social and gentlemanly man. It took 
a little time to get beneath the surface, but when you 
got there, you found the true Christian gentleman. A 
truer, more reliable friend, no man ever found. 



i6o S y. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" Whilst a dignified gentleman, he at the same time 
had a vein of humor that came to the surface oc- 
casionally He told me that when traveling in Egypt, 
it was very hot in Cairo, and in going around he found 
a small store, and purchased a straw hat. On rejoin- 
ing his company, an Englishman asked him where he 
got it. The Dr. informed him that he had bought it at a 
' one-horse shop ' near by. The Englishman mused a 
little and asked him what kind of store or shop that 
was, as they had none such in ' Hingland ' or any place 
he ever visited, and would like to see how it worked. 
When in Ireland his guide, learning that he was 
from the United States, inquired if he knew his cousin 
Pat. The^Doctor told him that America was a large 
country, and it was not likely he did. He asked his 
guide where his cousin lived, and was informed that 
he lived in Erie Co Pa, pronouncing it as in Erin 
go Bragh. The Doctor thought a moment and saw 
his guide had mistaken the address on a letter for the 
name of the locality, and on further enquiry found 
that he did know Pat, as the Doctor's original home 
was Erie Co.,, Pa. 

" His prudence, kindness of heart, and regard for 
the feelings of others were conspicuous through life. 
So far as I knew he had not an enemy in Franklin; 
every one spoke kindly of him. At the same time he 
was outspokon in denouncing the evils in the town and 
country. Take him all in all, we shall not soon look 
upon his like again." 



Pastoral Life. 161 



II. 

" In all the years since Dr. Eaton came to bless the 
Church of Franklin with his ministry, his influence as 
a pastor has been known and acknowledged as supe- 
rior, not only in his own congregation, but in all the 
churches and by all the people, irrespective of faith or 
creed. 

" Truly loyal to the faith of his fathers, he neverthe- 
less preached Christ so effectively, by his walk and 
conversation, in the pulpit and out of it, that all de- 
nominations recognized in him a true apostle, and even 
the faithless and unbelieving were compelled to respeet 
and admire him. 

"He was always a welcome guest, — his visits bring- 
ing joy and gladness when all was well with his peo- 
ple, and leaving the solace and peace of heaven where 
sorrow and suffering prevailed. Very precious, indeed, 
were his prayers at such a season. When he came to 
abide with us for a little time, as he sometimes did in 
our country homes, his morning service kindled the 
glow of heaven in our hearts, and his evening bene- 
dictions crowned the weariest day with rest. 

"His ministry to the sick was especially blest. Weary, 
suffering ones, whose only escape from pain was 
through the gates of Death, have prayed for length of 
days, even of painful days, that he might return from 
distant scenes to encourage their weak faith, to stay 
their faltering steps with the sweet promises of (he 
gospel, and in his own inimitable manner consign their 
frail bodies to the embrace of the tomb. Surely, by 



i62 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

the invalid's couch, in the house of mourning, and at 
the open grave, no earthly voice can ever be more ten- 
der, 

" Blessings on the new parsonage and all its present 
and future inmates ! But there was a little old par- 
sonage, dearer to every old parishioner than any new 
one ever can be. Many are the forms and faces radiant 
like his with the fadeless bloom of heaven, that joined 
with him and those yet remaining, in social scenes 
still enduring in the memories clustering around that 
sacred little home. To his dear wife, yet with us, 
doubtless much of the sunshine of that home was due ; 
but how much of that social radiance now blends with 
the immortal light of the saints in glory, only her 
darkened heart and ours can perceive. 

" Unaffected in manner, free from ostentation or rhet- 
orical display, he nevertheless carried conviction to 
every hearer that his ministry was divine, his commis- 
sion direct from heaven, signed and sealed by the ever 
present Spirit, By his invocation the congregation 
seemed lifted up nearer the open gates, and in the sa- 
cred hymns that followed, saintly voices seemed com- 
mingled with the earthly melodies, the Father seemed 
waiting to be gracious, the blessed Son was in our 
midst, and the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit fell 
on every waiting soul. The Bible was exalted by his 
reading, truth was made sublime, sin made unspeaka- 
bly odious ; and with Satan, the arch enemy of his 
flock, there was no humiliating compromise. 

" Truly blest were the young men and the young 
women who enjoyed his teaching in the Sabbath School, 



Pastoral Life. i6j 



his conversation by the wayside and in the pleasant 
walks of life, for therein was the seed-sowing destined 
to bring forth the richest harvest in the after years of 
his people. The little infant, consecrated by him in 
the holy ordinance of baptism, became the happy ob- 
ject of his prayerful solicitude through developing 
youth and opening manhood or womanhood; and not 
infrequently were the marriage vows solemnized that 
established a new home to bid him welcome, and to 
send forth new olive branches to flourish under his 
pastoral care. O that the Lord would be gracious, 
and let fall the mantle of Dr. Eaton upon some one 
who would be to our children and our children's chil- 
dren what he was unto us ! " 

III. 

"As a preacher of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, Dr. Eaton was full of earnestness and zeal, al- 
ways impressing his hearers with the belief of his 
own strong conviction of the truths which he present- 
ed. He was a strong reasoner, clear and logical in his 
presentation of truths contained in the Bible. He 
was orthodox all through ; and while he did not make 
a hobby of preaching doctrinal sermons, yet when oc- 
casion required, and at proper times, he would earnest- 
ly defend the doctrines held by the Presbyterian 
Church. 

"For many years he preached without manuscript, 
having his sermons well committed. After some years 
he used manuscript for his morning sermons only, 
having them written out in full, except his applica- 



164 S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

tions and exhortations. When through with his man- 
uscript, he almost invariably made his applications 
with a short exhortation ex tempore, which always im- 
pressed his hearers and fastened upon their minds his 
subject. It was in these extempore exhortations that 
the Doctor was most eloquent, always walking back 
and forth across the pulpit platform, soaring frequent- 
ly to the highest flights of eloquence. 

" To him it was a great joy to preach the blessed Gos- 
pel of the Lord Jesus, and to hold him up to a lost 
and ruined world as the Savior of sinners. His 
prayer-meetings were always interesting and instruc- 
tive, — his lectures being of a practical nature, direct- 
ing the minds and hearts of his people to the great 
importance of living holy lives, of setting a Christ- 
like example before the world, and of letting their 
light shine so that others might take knowledge of 
them and be led to glorify our Heavenly Father; 
never failing to admonish sinners and urging them to 
give their hearts to God. He always felt a deep inter- 
est in the young people, very many of whom during 
his long ministry he brought into the church. 

"As a pastor he was ever faithful to his people, visit- 
ing them in sickness and sorrow, administering to 
them the comforts and consolations of the blessed Gos- 
pel of Christ, praying with and for them, and showing 
unmistakably his great sympathy for them in their 
sorrow and afflictions. His very presence in the sick 
room was a benediction. In the house of mourning 
was where his warm sympathies were most strongly 
felt. Sad hearts, not only in his own congregation, but 



Pastoral Life. 165 



in the community in which he dwelt, always looked to 
him, sure of the sympathizing tear, and of receiving 
those comforts and consolations which he so well knew 
how to offer. His funeral services were wonderfully 
impressive and solemn and full of comfort to sorrow- 
ing hearts. Those in attendance on such occasions he 
always admonished to be prepared for the hour and 
article of death. As a citizen, Dr. Eaton was a model 
man, always manifesting a deep interest in the welfare 
of the community in which he lived. Socially, he 
was genial and courteous to all. His daily life was an 
inspiration to all who came in contact with him. Of 
him it can truly be said, that he had the love and re- 
spect of all who knew him, whether they .were Chris- 
tians or not. His Christian life and example will live 
long after him. 'He being dead yet speaketh.' " 

IV. 

" Rev. S. J. M. Eaton came to Franklin in the ear- 
ly part of 1848, and shortly afterwards preached his 
first sermon in the first Presbyterian Church, of which 
he was later ordained Pastor. The impression he cre- 
ated was of a most favorable character. Although 
young in years he evinced a wonderful knowledge of 
the duties and responsibilities of the sacred calling he 
had espoused, and in a short time he won the hearts 
and sympathies of the people with whom he was to 
spend the balance of his life, and to whom, in after 
life, he became so much endeared by every association 
founded on mutual love, admiration and affection. 



166 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



" It was not at all surprising that Dr. Eaton should, in 
a few years, secure the entire confidence of his people. 
He was frank, honest, straightforward and consistent 
in everything, During the whole time he lived in the 
County, covering a period of upwards of forty years, 
his purity of character and his honesty of purpose were 
never even questioned. Every person who had the 
pleasure of his acquaintance believed him above dis- 
simulation, or any characteristic that tends to impair 
the usefulness of a good man. 

" He was kind-hearted, generous and genial. He 
was always ready and willing to do anything in his 
power to relieve suffering or bring comfort and sun- 
shine to the homes of the distressed. He was perfectly 
unconscious of himself. His highest aim and purpose 
seemed to be to help others and to briDg them to the 
feet of the Redeemer. 

" The altima ihule of his ambition was that of a 
truly good man, who fully realized that he was sent by 
the Master for the sole purpose of building up His 
cause and thereby making the world better and hap- 
pier. 

11 One of the most commendable characteristics of 
Dr. Eaton was his intense love and admiration for the 
members of his own church. He could not tolerate 
harsh criticism of one of them. Nothing pained him 
so much as to hear any reflection upon the character of 
one of his flock, and on many occasions when bitter or 
cruel words were spoken in his presence concerning one 
he loved, he would immediately enter a modest protest, 
requesting a discontinuance of the unfriendly remarks, 



Pastoral Life. i6y 



or take leave of the company. He was the kind of a 
man who could not believe that religion and hypocrisy, 
love and hatred, tenderness and cruelty, could be cov- 
ered consistently by the same mantle. He was often 
affected to tears when he felt that one of his friends 
had been unjustly treated in his presence. This noble 
attribute bound him in bonds of warmest affection to 
his friends, and placed him in a position where he 
commanded universal respect. 

" He was an intense lover of his country. During 
the Civil War his thoughts were constantly with our 
armies, and his prayers went up continually for their 
success. He was intense in his patriotism, and nothing 
could swerve him in his devotion to the cause of his 
country. He believed human slavery was a blot up- 
on our escutcheon, and that through the war the 
Lord would remove that curse from the land. 

44 During some of the terrible battles in Virginia he 
went to the front and assisted in ministering to the 
wants of our wounded and dying soldiers. On differ- 
ent occasions he referred in most eloquent and pathetic 
terms to the scenes he witnessed and the necessity for 
supporting the Government, and generally speaking, 
his entire congregation and the community were in 
hearty sympathy with him. He looked upon treason 
and sin in the same light, and he never let an opportu- 
nity slip to attack the former with as much persistency 
and energy as he did the latter. 

"Another commendable trait in Dr. Eaton was his 
courage and stubbornness in the defense or mainten- 
ance of what he believed to be right. He did not ar- 



i6S S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

rive at conclusions hastily. He weighed all the argu- 
ments carefully ; listened to objections or favorable 
comment with great patience ; reasoned from cause to 
effect as a well trained logician should ; and then, after 
having exhausted the subject, he settled down on what 
his judgment was satisfied was right, and there he stood, 
unmovable, reliant, confident. While he was always 
ready to be convinced, it took a giant in intellect to 
move him from a position he had assumed. It was 
much easier to find fault with than to answer his argu- 
ments. 

" No man ever lived in the community who took 
such a general interest in the people. If information 
was wanted in regard to anything pertaining to the 
history of the County, City, or any individual, Dr. 
Eaton was the source from which it was obtained. He 
took the greatest interest in our local history, and to 
that end kept himself thoroughly ' posted ' in all events 
of public interest. He was looked upon as absolute 
authority on all matters pertaining to the history of 
Venango County, and his writings are considered the 
most valuable authority that can be produced in sup- 
port of any fact connected with our local history. 

" His devotion to his church was simply in keeping 
with his devotion to every duty. He worked in sea- 
son and out of season ; in health and sickness; in joy 
and sorrow; in success and adversity. His sermons 
were always good, and on many occasions they were the 
equals in eloquence, diction, logic and convincing 
power of those of the foremost divines in the land. 



Pastoral Life. i6g 



" His tributes to the memory of departed friends 
will never be forgotten by those who listened to them. 
His perfect knowledge of the life and character of 
those friends enabled him to portray, in most beautiful 
and touching language, their virtues and their achieve- 
ments, and the beauties, the struggles, the sunshine 
and sorrows of their lives. The eulogies he pro- 
nounced were recognized as a thoughtful and truthful 
summing up of the events of the lives of the de- 
parted, and the statements he made were always fitting, 
forceful and just. 

" In his death the community lost one of its dearest 
friends, the country one of its most loyal and devoted 
citizens, and the Church one of her most consistent, 
able and conspicuous ministers, The citizens of Ven- 
ango County will be reminded for all time to come of 
his ability as a writer and as a historian ; the church 
will never forget his conspicuous literary and forensic 
ability, or his prominence as an expounder of the 
truth ; and every person who had the pleasure of his 
personal acquaintance can truthfully say, in the lan- 
guage of another : 

€ii I did love the man and do honor his memory, on 
this side of idolatry, as much as any.' " 



To these discriminating and affectionate tributes, 
from friends of Dr. Eaton in his own Church of 
Franklin, is added the following letter of a strongly 
attached brother in the ministry, now resident in an- 
other State. 



170 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

It is a tribute from the heart, that speaks volumes 
for the noble Christian character both of the writer 
and of him to whose memory it is the last offering of 
Friendship. 

THE TRUE FRIEND AND BELOVED BROTHER. 

4k Friendship, one soul in two bodies."— Pythagoras. 
"They are rich who have many friends. 

There is no living without friends.'"— Portugese. 
44 A man that hath friends must show himself friendly."— 

Solomon. 

11 My first meeting with Dr. Eaton led to a life-long 
friendship. The Synod of Erie convened in New 
Castle, Pennsylvania, in the autumn of 1861. That 
was the first year of my ministry and my first time at 
Synod. Brother Eaton was Stated Clerk. 

" Nearly all the brethren were strangers to me, ex- 
cept our own Presbytery of Beaver — now Shenango. 
For some reason my heart turned towards the Stated 
Clerk, as the one whom I desired to spend the Sab- 
bath with me and preach to my people. He consent- 
ed, and at that time, now twenty-eight years ago, the 
foundation of our friendship was laid. 

'•For more than twenty years neither of us missed 
a meeting of the old Synod. As the years passed by 
I found myself looking forward more and more eager- 
ly to our Synodical gathering, that I might grasp the 
hand of my beloved brother Eaton, and the hands of 
such fatherly fathers as Drs. Robert Walker, Alexan- 
der Donaldson, and Elliot E. Swift. 
4 Ah, how good it feels ! 
The hand of an old friend.'' 

It was a benediction to meet these saintlv men. 



Pastoral Life. 171 



11 Busy as brother Eaton was with the duties of his 
office, time was always found for a season of fraternal 
intercourse during the sessions of Synod. Every 
year iny regard and affection for him increased. In 
1878 we were brought nearer in heart to each other 
than ever before. 

" That year, in company with my wife, I made a 
tour to Europe, Egypt and Palestine. In 1871, Dr. 
Eaton and the Rev. William F. Kean had made the 
same pilgrimage. Knowing that he traveled with his 
eyes and ears open ; that he was full of information, 
and that he was overflowing with enthusiasm for what 
he had seen in the East and in Bible Lands, I wrote 
to him for some hints and suggestions. 

"It was not my purpose to encroach much on his 
fully occupied time. But in a few days a letter was 
received covering several sheets, and from first to last 
full of the most helpful information. Soon another 
long letter followed. Then a third, saying, 'Gather 
up your questions and I will not weary in answering.' 
In the kindness of his great brotherly heart, he fur- 
nished me with a guide book, which contained many 
a practical hint not found in Bcedaker, Cook or 
Appleton. 

" Besides, he sent letters of introduction to friends 
abroad. Nor was this all. Arriving at Jerusalem, 
the Holy City, we found awaiting us there a cheering 
letter from our dear friend in far off Western Penn- 
sylvania. 'As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good 
news from a far country/ — Solomon. He was follow- 
ing us in his thoughts and prayers like a guardian 



172 S. '?. M. Eaton, D. D. 

angel. The last letter of the series came to us about 
the time we reached home, after an absence of over six 
months. It was a refreshing message of welcome and 
congratulation. 

" But the end of his great kindness in connection 
with our journey was not yet. Not long after our re- 
turn, the Westfield people gave us a reception. Aware 
of the interest Dr. Eaton had taken in our travels, 
they invited him to be present. He came, and his 
words of cordial greeting and welcome home will long 
be remembered. His hand and heart were ever at the 
service of a friend. 

'To friendship every burden's light.' 

"In the fall of 1878 our Synod met in Meadville. 
To make up the committees is always a difficult and 
delicate matter for the Moderator. But Dr. Eaton 
sat by me with unwearied devotion till a late hour of 
the night, and rendered such assistance as only he 
could render, from his wide acquaintance with the 
brethren and his thorough knowledge of the business. 

U A number of times I met him and his estimable 
wife in their Chautauqua summer home. His enthu- 
siasm for the great, grove University was unbounded. 
It was his cordial commendation of the C. L. S. C. 
that led me, in 1884, to enlist in that army girdling 
the globe. On receiving my diploma and white seal, 
I felt under renewed obligations to my good friend. 
He had given me an inspiration which had not only 
been helpful, but at the same time a great pleasure 

"A friendship between Dr. Eaton and my wife be- 
gan in 1872, during an excursion in Mount Lebanon, 



Pastoral Life. iyj 



Syria. This friendship, strengthened by correspond- 
ence and cemented by visits with the doctor and his 
wife in their hospitable home, made it a double pleas- 
ure to have him with us for four days in May, 1887. 
This last visit was a social delight from beginning to 
end. It was sweetened and sanctified by his fervent 
prayers at the family altar, and by the earnest Gospel 
sermons preached in connection with our sacramental 
season. Those who heard his closing sermon on Mon- 
day, will not soon forget the tender, touching and ad- 
mirable way in which he presented the precious con- 
solations of the religion of Christ. As he pictured 
the agony in the garden of Gethsemane, and spoke of 
the sympathy of our great High Priest, all hearts 
were moved. 

"As a friend and ministerial brother, he was ever 
ready to l rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep 
with them that weep.' At the time of my mother's 
death, in March, 1879, six years after the death of his 
own mother, he wrote me : i We can never repay the 
debt we owe our mothers ; but we can try to imitate 
their virtues and remember their counsels and their 
prayers. As to the departed, we shall go to them, but 
they will not return to us. And this going to rejoin 
our friends who sleep in Jesus, will be going to God's 
Holy Land above, that has seen no desolation and that 
will require no fatigue, or danger, or return. The 
Lord bring us safely thither when our work is done.' 

4 Friendship has a power 
To soothe affliction in her darkest hour/ 



174 s 7- M - Eaton, D. D. 

"Like Abrahaai, our departed brother was ' the 
friend of God/ This made him so much the more 
faithful friend of his fellow man. His friendship was 
more desirable than gold. It enriched every one who 
enjoyed the invaluable possession. How much poorer 
many of us are without it ! 

" Fare thee well, true friend and beloved brother. 
Hallowed influences and cherished memories will ever 
cluster around thy worthy name. Thank God for 
thy pure life, beautiful character and unselfish friend- 
ship. May we who follow after be better Christians 
and truer friends, because of the noble example of our 
sainted friend who has gone before. 

' 'Tis sweet, as year by year we lose 
Friends out of sight, in faith to muse 
How grows in Paradise our store. 1 '' 



— ■€7£® v ®^> — 



CHAPTER VIII. 
TWO EPISODES. 

I. 

THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 

Dr. Eaton took a deep interest in our great Civil 
War, which came to a close at nearly the mid-way 
point of his Franklin pastorate. He gave loyal sup- 
port to the Government of the Nation in all proper 
ways throughout the period of its continuance, and 
would willingly have tendered his services as a chap- 
lain to one of the regiments, had his sense of duty to 
his Church justified the sacrifice. 

But in the last terrible year of the war, when there 
was a more imperative demand than ever before for the 
services of Christian men in ministering to the spirit- 
ual as well as temporal wants of the suffering and 
dying soldiers, both in field and hospital, he resolved 
to tender his services to the " Christian Commission," 
which had been organized some two years before, arid 
was doing most valuable work. The offer was gladly 
accepted ; and on the 6th of May, 1864, he arrived at 
the headquarters of the Commission in the City of 
Washington. 

The next day he entered upon his duties by visiting 
the 17th street Barracks and distributing Testaments, 



iy6 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

» 

papers and small books among the soldiers. Having 
preached the following day (it being the Sabbath), in 
the Ambulance Camp, and put up supplies needed for 
the wounded, he started on Monday the 9th, with fif- 
teen other delegates, to a point on the Rappahannock, 
where 10,000 wounded soldiers were reported to be ly- 
ing. This was just after the first terrible Battles of 
the Wilderness. 

After tedious delays, and conveyed part of the way 
by train and part by steamer, they arrived next morn- 
^ ing at Belle Plain, but no wounded men were to be 
seen. But later in the day the tide of the wounded 
began to set in — those shot in the arms arriving first 
on foot, followed by ambulance wagons filled with men 
wounded in all possible ways. 

Mr. Eaton kept a brief daily record of his experi- 
ences and services during the few weeks that he acted 
as a delegate of the Christian Commission; and from 
this, or from his letters, written in the midst of the 
scenes he describes, extracts will be taken. The reader 
of to-day will thus have a more vivid realization of 
the hardships and sufferings endured by the men "at 
the front," and of the value of the services rendered 
by the faithful delegates of the Christian Commission 
in those days of peril and terror. 

May 10th. Evening. " We pitched our tent and 
looked upon the mighty tide of men setting in from 
the field of battle. At 10 o'clock we rolled ourselves 
in our blankets and prepared for rest. 

" Wednesday morning, at 5 o'clock, we arose and 
breakfasted. I was detailed to assist the surgeon in 



The Christian Commission. iyy 

dressing wounds. Commenced this work at 6| o'clock 
and continued hard at work until 7 o'clock in the 
evening, partly in the midst of rain and mud. In the 
afternoon I was employed by the surgeon to dress 
wounds on my own account. At 7 o'clock I left the 
hospital tents and sought for a bite to eat previous to 
retiring. I found a cup of coffee and a piece of dry 
bread which made a luxurious repast, and then sought 
the tent. We spread our blankets on the ground and 
were soon asleep." 

The next day Mr. Eaton was detailed with other 
delegates to go to Fredericksburgh, which was near the 
field of battle. 

The same evening he thus writes to his wife : "This 
" has been a fearful day of battle, the most terrific all 
" agree since the war commenced. All day long the 
" cannonading has been like the thunder of a summer 
u storm. Oftentimes you could scarcely distinguish 
" between the reports .... We are here about 
" fourteen miles from the battle-field. We came in 
" company with a large wagon train and train of am- 
" bulances, with a strong guard of cavalry to protect 
" us from guerillas. Last night they took forty horses 
" from the ambulances, shooting the driver through 
" the shoulder. When volunteers were called for for 
" this place, I of course volunteered, although we were 
u informed we might expect to walk the ten miles. 
" But we walked only two miles and then rode in am- 
" bulances." 

Having been assigned to the Boston Hospital, our 
Good Samaritan finds abundance of helpful work to do 



i-S S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

in dressing wounds, writing letters for the soldiers, and 
trying to point some dying men to the Lamb of God. 

11 A poor fellow could not be persuaded that his con- 
" dition was dangerous. I looked in at 4 o'clock and 
" saw a female nurse sitting on the floor by his pillow. 
61 The death dews were gathering upon his brow. A 
" half hour later looked in again, and his place was 
u vacant. The surgeon told me of another who was 
" sinking. I pressed the matter of immediate prepar- 
" tion, and left him. Had prayers in two of the 
" wards. Came out of the hospital in the evening, 
" weary and sick at heart to see the whole street lined 
" with ambulances filled with wounded men just from 
" the front. O how awful war is ! How dreadful sin 
"is!" 

The next day the ambulances with their loads of 
wounded men still kept streaming in from the battle- 
field. These poor fellows, as they were carried on 
stretchers into a newly improvised hospital, were not 
only suffering from their wounds, but were faint with 
hunger and thirst, and no provision had yet been made 
for their relief. " I went to the Commission Rooms," 
Mr. Eaton writes, a and got five buckets of coffee and 
" dealt out to them. They wanted hard-tack, but we 
" had not a cake to give them. They were nearly 
" dying. There was one Rebel among the number." 

By the time his second Sabbath (May 15th) in the 
work of the Commission had dawned, he was quite 
worn out with fatigue and want of sleep, and felt too 
unwell to go to the Hospital. He therefore remained 
in the rooms of the Commission. While nursing him- 



The Christian Commission. 179 

self and gathering strength for the next day's duties 
he wrote to his wife. In the course of the letter he 
says : "As I am writing the heavy trains of army 
" wagons are moving slowly by. The ambulances of 
11 suffering, wounded soldiers go in the other direction. 
" Every now and then an orderly dashes madly by with 
11 clattering hoofs and clanging sabre ; or a company 
" of armed soldiers march along on their way to the 
" front, to take the place of those who have fallen. 
" There is work here, and it is dreadful work, to 
" nerves trained and tuned as mine have been. But 
" there is a pleasant episode now and then. Yester- 
" day I wrote a letter for a soldier, and afterwards 
11 asked him about his soul's interests. He said he 
u thought he was a Christian, and that just as he was 
" about to make the awful charge upon the enemy's 
" works, in which he had been struck down, he com- 
" mitted himself to God's care, feeling assured that if 
" he fell he would fall into the arms of Jesus. And 
" there he lay upon the floor, suffering and maimed, 
"calm and trusting in God. 

" We have here about 150 Delegates from the Chris- 
" tian Commission, all at work and yet with plenty to 
" do. And the longer we remain the more painful our 
11 duties will become. And still they come from the 
"front in ambulances and wagons and on foot, just 
" according to the character of their wounds. But I 
" do not want to write you so much about this awful 
" business. And yet what else is there to write about? 
11 Yesterday about 8,000 Rebels, among them 400 
" officers, were brought in — marched past our door. 



180 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" The soldiers here call them * Johnnies.' They 
" were the real graybacks, full of life and impudence. 

"I have not seen my face-in a glass for a week, and 
" do not wish to; for I know I must look awfully. 
" Tell J — E — t that neither my hands nor any part 
u . of my person are ' well kept' now, and I am glad she 
" cannot see me. I feel mean and dirty and 'ornary ' 
" all the time. The trees are all green, the flowers in 
" bloom, the birds singing. The war cannot stop 
M these things. Love to all. The Lord bless you 
« all." 

During the week following his Journal contains 
such records as these : " Had prayers in four wards. 
The boys seem anxious for these exercises." — "A fear- 
ful battle is impending." — " Found a man who is try- 
ing to hope that he has passed from death unto life." 
— "Had religious services in four wards of the hospi- 
tal. The men are anxious for these services — especially 
those that are severely wounded." — " The consolations 
of religion seem precious to many." — " This morning 
another poor fellow died. I had tried to point him to 
the Savior." — "Another of my pet boys died this 
morning, and others are worse." — "A Maine man for 
whom I had written a letter became deranged last 
night. He had been wounded early in the fight, and 
lay twenty-four hours on the field, and fell into the 
hands of the Rebels, where he continued for two 
weeks. Exchanged — leg amputated — he will die." 

Mr. Eaton had now spent two weeks in this severe 
and exhausting service, and began to feel that he had 
remained as long as was prudent " amid the terrible 



The Christian Commission. 181 

atmosphere of the Hospital and of the city." On 
Monday, May 23d, in company with others, and under 
military escort, he set out for Washington by way of 
Belle Plain. They arrived safely in the city the next 
morning. The day following, he and two other dele- 
gates of the Commission were assigned to duty in 
Harewood Hospital — " a very large establishment 
11 about two miles from the City. The duties are very 
11 different from those required at Fredericksburgh. 
11 No dressing of wounds here — in fact nothing but the 
11 things pertaining to the spiritual welfare of the sol- 
11 diers." 

11 There is always something pleasant turning up — " 
he writes to Mrs. Eaton, May 26th : " This morning 
11 as we went out to the Hospital, I laden down with 
" my haversack of books, and trudging through the 
" mud, I felt a little down-hearted. But after distrib- 
" uting nearly all my books, and hearing many com- 
" mendations of the Christian Commission, I found a 
11 Rebel minus his right arm, who hailed from North 
" Carolina. I told him I had a friend there, and des- 
" cribed Mr. Boyce. He said he knew him well, and 
11 came from his region. This more than paid me for 
" all my labor. The Rebel is a Christian I think — a 

" member of the Presbyterian Church 

11 After much talk we parted, with a pressure of the 
" hand and a hearty God bless you, to meet no more 
" upon earth. " 

There were 2,800 patients in the Harewood Hospi- 
tal at this time. Many Christians were found among 



i82 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

s 

them, and all were willing to talk about religion. 
They were always respectful. 

The following incident is mentioned by Mr. Eaton 
in his Journal : u On our return we received a dis- 
11 patch to send West, with these brief words that will 
" be like barbed arrows when thrown into some pleas- 
" ant home : i Your husband died this morning. What 
" shall we do ivith the body ? ' 

" Some thirty delegates of the Christian Commission 
" called upon the President. He received us very kind- 
" ly. He assured us of his kindly feeling and high ap- 
" preciation of the Commission ; and that of all 
" organizations for the support of the army, he es- 
Si teemed ours first in integrity, usefulness and patriot- 
" ism." 

Mr. Eaton continued to go to the Hospital or the 
various Barracks for about a week longer, earnestly 
striving to do what he could to comfort and encourage 
the poor fellows lying there in their pain and help- 
lessness, pointing them to Him who is the only source 
of help and strength — the mighty Savior who "can 
save to the uttermost all who put their trust in Him." 
At the close of his last day among these scenes of suf- 
fering and death, he writes in his little Journal : "So 
u I leave the dying and the dead. Is it but a heavy, 
" horrible dream I have had during the past four 
"weeks? Are the scenes of suffering, anguish, and 
" death imaginary ? or are they strange, stern reality ? 
" These weeks seem to me to have compressed within 
" their days the record of long weary years. And 



Visit to the Holy Land. i8j 

a they have been weeks of earnest toil, of watching 
11 and waiting such as I have never experienced before. 

"I hope I have done some good. I feel that the 
" God of my fathers has been with me. This even- 
" ing, after the work was finished, I sought out and 
" read the 91st Psalm, and felt that I could append a 
11 glad Amen to every verse. I felt with a glad heart 
" that God had done for me all therein prayed for and 
" promised. I have not labored here at my own 
11 charges. God has rewarded me as I have passed 
" along. And now, if he brings me home in peace, 
" my heart will be full of gratitude and thankfulness. 
14 And I can trust Him for all." 

It is certainly worth while to record here what Mr. 
Eaton says of the feeling of the soldiers towards the 
noble-hearted men who devoted themselves with such 
Christ-like love and zeal to their relief. In his last 
letter home before leaving Washington he writes: 
" The gratitude of the soldiers to the Christian Com- 
" mission is most unbounded and affecting. Their 
"uniform testimony was, 'Had it not been for the 
" Christian Commission, half of us would have died 
" at Fredericksburgh.' " 

II. 

VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND. 

We have no definite account of Dr. Eaton's plans 
for his trip abroad, nor of his feelings on leaving 
home on so long and perilous a journey. Knowing 
the man, however, we know that there was no hap- 
hazard in his preparations for the journey, and that he 



184 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

would use all diligence to inform himself concerning 
the route, and the important places and countries he 
was to visit. He would know in advance the note- 
worthy things to be seen and points to be visited in 
Rome and Athens, Alexandria, Cairo, Constantinople, 
&c. There must be no waste time on a trip limited to 
five months, and taking in so many nations and traver- 
sing so many leagues of sea and land. 

Of course there were many advantages in going 
in a large party like that of Cook's, and under gui- 
dance of a leader .who knew every rood of the way. 
But in order that one might gain real enjoyment and 
benefit from such a tour, there must be a clear under- 
standing in advance of what was to be seen, and a 
careful study or review of the historical associations 
connected with the various spots — especially in the 
Holy Land. 

The party left New York on the — of February, 
1871. They had a prosperous voyage to Liverpool, 
and ran up swiftly by rail to London, 220 miles 
in five hours. Dr. Eaton's first letter in print 
bore date London, February 14th. After remain- 
maining for but a few days at that time in that 
grand metropolis, so exhaustless in its resources of 
architectural, literary and historical interest to intelli- 
gent Americans, they hastened on to the continent, 
stopping for a short time in each of the cities of Ant- 
werp, Cologne, Munich, Venice, and so on to Trieste 
— whence they were to sail for Alexandria in Egypt. 
The important cities of Rome, Naples, Florence, and 
the delightful mountain region of Switzerland, were 



Visit to the Holy Land. 185 

to be reserved for a more leisurely inspection on their 
return homeward. 

March second finds them in Alexandria. The voy- 
age across the Mediterranean proved delightful, a rare 
occurrence, they were told, on that usually stormy in- 
land sea. " In Egypt at last," our tourist exclaims : 
11 the home of the Pharoahs, the dwelling of Joseph, 
11 the birth-place of Moses I" Omitting Cairo and the 
Pyramids, let us follow our travelers towards the an- 
cient land of Israel — for that was the land whither 
their hearts were constantly turning. On the evening 
of the 11th of March, the prow of the Austrian 
steamer on which they had embarked at Port Said, at 
the mouth of the Suez Canal, was turned towards the 
East, and the machinery put in motion. 

"As the stars came out in their beauty" says Dr. 
Eaton, "we paced the deck nervously, for we knew 
" that before the sun should rise we would look upon 
" the ancient hills of Judea. Turks and Greeks and 
" Arabs and Syrians and Israelites and Christians were 
" around us, all 'going up to Jerusalem ;' yet each one 
" seemed absorbed in his own thoughts. . . The 
" morning rose in beauty over the Judean hills, re- 
" vealing to us the land we sought. The pilgrimage 
" of 8,000 miles was accomplished, and with eager 
" eyes we saw the ancient city of Joppa rising out of 
" the sea, with the plains of Sharon extending far 
" beyond." 

They found much of interest even in Joppa, or 
Yapho, as the natives call it; but what was the port 
through which Solomon carried his lumber from Tyre 



186 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

for the temple at Jerusalem, or even the house on 
whose flat roof Peter prayed and saw the wonderful 
vision, when Jerusalem itself was but tbirty-six miles 
away over the hills? They looked at the attractive 
things in Joppa, but their hearts were still leading 
them on to the spot where is found all that remains of 
the " Holy City "— the " City of the Great King." 

Dr. Eaton took great pains in his examination of 
the City of Jerusalem, and critically studied it in all 
its important points ; and from his careful survey at 
this time of the Holy Places, and his subsequent ac- 
curate study of the observations and theories of others, 
he thoroughly qualified himself for the delightful 
talks he was accustomed to give daily at Chautauqua 
for so many years, as he walked around the model of 
the city shown there, and pointed out the various lo- 
calities. 

It would be impossible within the limits of the 
brief sketch of Dr. Eaton's trip that can be given 
here to go into the particulars of what he saw and ex- 
perienced, and which he faithfully spread before his 
Franklin friends in the columns of one of the local 
papers. Here and there an observation on some inter- 
esting locality, or a striking thought or theory, as he 
passes on in his journey, is all that our space and the 
proprieties of the subject seem to allow. 

There is no more impressive spot in Jerusalem and 
its neighborhood, to the mind of the Christian travel- 
ler, than the Garden of Gethsemane. It seems to be 
certain that the plot of ground pointed out to travel- 
lers as the place, is the very spot where our Savior en- 



/ Isit to the Holy Land. 187 

dured his great agony. " Sitting down under those 
" old olive trees," says Dr. Eaton, "and reading the 
11 account of the passion in the New Testament, brings 
" the whole scene so vividly before the mind as to be 
" almost overpowering. And to sit there in silence 
" until you see the great sun go down behind the bat- 
11 tlements of Mount Moriah, and the moon rise over 
" the steeps of Olivet, is almost to realize the scene of 
11 eighteen hundred and forty years ago. And to bow 
11 down and weep where the Savior wept, and pray 
" where he prayed, is to get very near the Elder Broth- 
u er, and a privilege almost too great this side the 
" eternal hills of God." 

Other places pointed out as spots made sacred by 
some event in the life of Christ, or connected with His 
death, are not certainties — as Calvary, the place of the 
tomb, the grave of Lazarus, &c. But Jerusalem it- 
self and its environs would seem to be enough for the 
satisfaction of the Christian traveller, even if he may 
not stand on the exact spot where the foot of the Cross 
was planted, or the sacred body was laid, or the drops 
of bloody sweat fell. The city where he taught and 
over which he wept, and indeed the whole country of 
Palestine which he traversed over and over again— of 
these there can be no doubt, and these are His per- 
petual memorial. 

Bethlehem, six miles south of Jerusalem, of course 
was visited. As they came in sight of the village, 
the attention of the travellers was directed to a little 
Mohammedan tomb near their path. It was that of 
Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob — buried there thir- 



i88 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

ty-six hundred years before. "A walk of fifteen min- 
11 utes further brings you to Bethlehem, the birth-place 
" of the Lord — i the birth-place of the world/ It 
" still sleeps on its quiet yellow hill. Beneath it are 
"the plains where the angels appeared to the shep- 
" herds. In sight are the fields where Boaz reaped 
" his barley and where Ruth gleaned the scattered 
" heads. Near by are the hills upon whose sides the 
" stripling David watched his father's flock, and bat- 
" tied with the lion and the bear. Here also he was 
" anointed King of Israel." 

Dr. Eaton holds strongly to the opinion that the 
cave, or grotto, underneath the Church of St. Mary 
at Bethlehem, built to commemorate the birth place of 
our Lord, is the real place of the stable and manger. 
" The present church," he argues, " has marked it 
" since A. D. 330. In the year of our Lord 132 the 
" Emperor Adrian planted there a grove dedicated to 
" Adonis, to desecrate the spot. This grove stood un- 
" til the year 315, nearly to the date of the erection of 
" the church. Natural monuments therefore date 
" back to within one hundred and thirty- two 
" years of the birth of Christ. No doubt there were 
" then living the children of Christians who had seen 
" Christ, and knew of the place of his birth. Justin 
" Martyr, writing in the middle of the second century, 
" says our Lord was born ' in a certain cave close to 
" the village.' Eusebias, who was born in the coun- 
" try, speaks of this grotto as the well known place of 
" the Savior's birth 



I r isit to the Holy Land. i8g 



u With lighted tapers you pass down a flight of 
11 thirteen steps, and find yourself in the little grotto 
" where the infant Savior was born. The room is 
u some ten feet by twenty, with a ceiling about nine 
" feet in height. A soft light falls from silver and 
" golden lamps suspended from the ceiling. With 
" bared head and accelerated pulse you gaze at a large 
11 silver star set in the pavement, around which is the 
" inscription in the Latin language : ''Here was born 
" of a virgin, Jesus, our Lord.' The feeling while stand- 
" ing in that grotto is most bewildering . . . You 
" almost imagine that you have come on the same er- 
" rand as the Magi, to worship the infant Redeemer." 

The barren region of country to the Eastward of 
Jerusalem and Bethlehem, called the Wilderness of 
Judea, is graphically pictured by our tourist. It ex- 
tends to the Dead Sea and the plain of the Jordan. 
The surface of the region looks much as though thick- 
ly covered with ashes. 

" No vegetation — no trees — no shrubs even. Awful 
" precipices, deep ravines; rocks blighted and blackened 
11 and shattered by volcanic action, lie around. There 
" is no water to gladden your eye, nor a single shadow 
"save your own to relieve the fierce beat of a Syrian 
" sun. Your own breath becomes hot, and the atmos- 
11 phere is like that of a furnace. If a gentle breeze 
11 arises, instead of refreshing and cooling you, it seems 
" to kindle fires in your system until your very blood 

" appears to be turned to molten lead 

11 It is an accursed place ; and there is but one circum- 
" stance that reconciles you to the journey, and that is 



igo S J. M. Eaton; D. D. 

" that it is the ' Wilderness of Judea,' where for 
" forty days and forty nights the Son of God took up 
11 his dwelling place in the interests of lost humanity ." 
It was a day's journey to cross this tract of desola- 
tion and horror, through which the path — if path it 
could be called — seemed to be constantly leading the 
traveller 

" Into the jaws of death— 
Into the mouth of hell." 

But lo ! in the midst of the desolation a " beautiful 
" sheet of water appears — clearer and bluer than the 
14 waters of the Mediterranean It is the Dead Sea. 
41 Its waters are perfectly transparent. They do not 
il ripple and whisper as do other waters. They lap 
" sadly and heavily upon the sand, filling the looker 
41 on with sadness and melancholy. 

"A bath in the Dead Sea is one of the Pilgrim's 
11 perquisites, as much so as having the Jerusalem cross 
" tattooed upon the arm at the Holy City. This was a 
44 most luxurious bath, after the furnace heat of the 
" journey into the Valley. We found no incon- 
44 venience from the bitter properties of the water, and 
44 its density buoys up the person, so that it is impos- 
" sible to sink, or even swim with any satisfaction." 

But we are dallying too long with Dr. Eaton's de- 
lightful story of his experiences and observations in 
those towns and regions of that old, old world, which 
can never lose their charm for believers in God and 
the Bible. The Jordan is visited, and a bath enjoyed 
in its refreshing and swift-flowing waters. A look is 
taken at the hamlet that is now posing for ancient Jer- 



Visit to the Holy Land. igi 

icho, and the cite of the famous old city itself is also 
viewed. But no palm trees are to be seen where the 
11 City of Palm Trees " once stood. The eyes of the 
traveller doubtless rested on Mount Pisgah 

" — where Moses stood 
And viewed the landscape o'er," 

among the Mountains of Moab, in the region beyond 
the Dead Sea and the Jordan ; but the trouble was he 
could not be sure which of the summits was Pisgah 
and which a mount unknown to fame. He turned 
back at length from the Jordan Valley, reached the 
high grounds of Central Palestine again ; started to- 
wards the North — " must needs pass through Samaria" 
— touched Shechem (now Nablous), Shunem, Nain, 
Endor, and at length reached Nazareth, where our 
Lord was brought up. " Neither Bethlehem, nor Ca- 
" pernaum, nor Jerusalem even, knew as much of the 
" domestic life of Christ a$ did this humble little city, 
" hid away amid the hills." 

Our travellers found Nazarath a very attractive 
place — presenting the finest appearance of any town in 
all Palestine, excepting the Holy City itself, and with a 
population of about five thousand. Of these only one 
thousand are Mohammedans, the remaining four thous- 
and being divided among the Greek and Latin 
Churches and the Maronites. There is hardly an Is- 
raelite in the place. 

"The summit of the hill on which Nazareth is built 
" presents one of the most remarkable views in all 
" Syria. On the South-East is Mount Carmel, on the 
" North and North-West are the snowy peaks of Le- 



IQ2 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

u banon and Hermon, on the South-East the hills of 
" Moab, and on the East and near at hand is seen the 
" blue top of Mount Tabor." 

Many other sacred and famous spots were in sight, 
while just beneath lay Nazareth itself, in which stood 
houses* on whose walls no doubt the shadow of the 
Son of God had fallen as he walked along the narrow 
streets. " How sweet and tranquil that Sabbath morn- 
" ing was," writes Dr. Eaton, " when, from this soli- 
" tary hill-top, two pilgrims, worn with travel, looked 
" out upon the scene in silence and tears. . . It 
" seemed verily as if Jesus was there once more, and 
" that the blessed memories of the past still consecrat- 
" ed the very ground and rendered it holy." 

In a letter written from Beyrout on the 9th of 
April, he gives a rapid sketch of his trip from 
Nazareth onward to that city. Extracts from this 
letter follow : " We approached the Sea of Gallilee 
" from the West. The day was favorable ; for a beau- 
" tiful light fell upon the water and surrounding hills, 
" making the whole scene as gorgeous as a picture. 
" . We lingered around it for a day and two 

"nights, visiting Tiberias, Magdala, Capernaum, 
" Bethsaida, and Chorazin. Magdala (the home of 
" Mary Magdalene) is but a cluster of dirty mud huts, 
" while the last three towns named are without a sin- 
" gle inhabitant. ' Wo unto thee Chorazin ; wo unto 
" thee Bethsaida/ said the beloved Master. The woe 
" has come, and silence reigns in these once busy 
" towns. We crossed the lake under the boatmanship 
" of some Arabs. The voice of our Lord once quiet- 



Visit to (he Holy Laud. igj 

" ed these billows, and his feet trod these waves as 
11 though they had been marble. 

" We passed up the Jordan Valley, until finally the 
11 mountains contracted the valley and shut it in alto- 
11 gether. At Caeserea Philippi we found the Jordan 
u gushing out of the mountain side." 

Our travellers lingered at Damascus, the oldest city 
in the world, for several days — so beautiful is it, so 
attractive in its surroundings, with its orchards of or- 
anges and lemons and citrons and figs, that they were 
hardly able to tear themselves away. In the city 
there is a superabundance of water, drawn from the 
Abana river, and almost every house has its fountain. 
" But the Bazars are positively magnificent. The 
" thirty thousand dogs said to be in the city are an 
" annoyance, but they are not much worse than other 
u noises that abound. We found the United Presby- 
" terian Mission in prosperous circumstances, and wor- 
" shiped with them on the Sabbath." 

Beyrout, " the most refined and cultivated city in 
Syria " — rendered so in great part by the work of the 
Presbyterian Mission there — was accorded three or 
four days of the precious time of the tourists. While 
in that city, Mr. Eaton visited the little American 
Cemetery near at hand, where the body of Bishop 
Kingsley, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, lies 
buried. It occurred to him that Mrs. Kingsley might 
never have an opportunity of visiting her husband's 
grave, and so as a memorial of the spot he plucked a 
few grasses and flowers which he brought home with 
him, and afterwards sent them to the bereaved lady 



194 S- 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

with a description of the place where he was laid. He 
afterwards received from her a note expressing her 
appreciation of his thoughtfulness and kindness. 

From Beyrout they went to Stamboul — the Con- 
stantinople of European geography. Embarking on 
an Austrian steamer with a party including forty 
Americans, they touched at the Island of Cyprus, the 
native place of Barnabas ; then at Rhodes, once fa- 
mous for its Colossus ; and in the evening passed " the 
Isle that is called Patmos," where John saw the won- 
derful visions recorded in the " Book of the Revela- 
tion." They then entered the Bay of Smyrna. They 
landed here, and mounting donkeys rode up to see an 
ancient church. " To the angel of the church of 
Smyrna, write," said he " who walketh in the midst of 
the seven golden candlesticks " to his Apostle John : 
" Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a 
crown of life," he says to the "angel " of that church ; 
and there is still a church in Smyrna. " We also 
11 gathered flowers," says Dr. Eaton, " on the tomb of 
" Polycarp, one of the pupils of John the Apostle, and 
" a martyr and witness of Jesus. 

u In the evening, just as the sun was setting, we 
" steamed out of the Bay of Smyrna. The next day 
" we passed in view of the plains of old Troy, with 
" whose history every school-boy is familiar. Passing 
" on we entered the Dardanelles and the Sea of Mar- 
" mora, when night shut in upon us. In the morning 
" Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish Empire, 
" the most beautiful of all the cities of the East, was 
"just in sight. Soon tower and minaret and swelling 



Visit to the Holy Land. 195 

" dome revealed themselves in all their grandeur ; 
11 Europe and Asia were separated by but a narrow 
11 strait. We entered the Golden Horn, cast anchor, 
11 and were soon on our way to the Custom House to 
" try the cupidity or honesty of Turkish officials. It 
" is wonderful what power the word ' Backsheesh ' has 
11 all over the East. It is the talisman which relieves 
"all difficulties, the 'open sesame ' which unlocks all 
u barriers." 

It would be exceedingly interesting to the reader to 
find copied here all that Dr. Eaton says about this fa- 
mous city, and the towns and region round about. 
But limit of space absolutely forbids. All that he 
wrote, including all that was printed of what he wrote 
while on this five months' tour, would make a good- 
sized volume; and it would be as valuable and inter- 
esting to stay-at-home travellers as most of the books 
of travel that cumber or adorn the shelves of libraries, 
and instruct and delight the readers of such litera- 
ture. 

It is now the 20th of April, 1871 — six weeks, lack- 
ing three days, since he set foot on the shore of the 
Holy Land at Joppa. In the first week of July he is 
to reach his home. "The isles of Greece," and the 
most famous cities and countries of Europe, with En- 
gland, Scotland and Ireland, are still to be visited, — 
and there remain still eight to ten weeks of time — 
weeks how full to overflowing with all that delights and 
satisfies a cultured and craving intellect and a re- 
fined taste ! 



ig6 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

It is out of the question. We cannot follow him 
here. We cannot listen to him as he tells of his emo- 
tions as he lands at the Piraeus, and " drives over a 
splendid road to the old city of Athens " — beholds the 
famous Acropolis, and the remains of the Temple of 
Jupiter Olympus near at hand, — the ruins of the Par- 
thenon, the grove of Academus, or at least the spot 
where it stood, fixed by a marble monument. Nor can 
we repeat the accounts of what he saw in the " Eter- 
nal City," at Naples and the resurrected cities of Pom- 
peii and Hercul^neum. 

He visited Florence, saw the famous cathedral at 
Milan, revisited London — went everywhere on foot or 
rode on omnibuses, saw the famous tombs in Westmin- 
ster Abbey, visited the Tower, and the British Mu- 
seum, and St. Paul's ; walked on " London Bridge/' 
and along Fleet Street and the Strand and through 
" Cheapside ; " heard notable preachers and saw famous 
statesmen ; toured through rural England and through 
Scotland, ascended to Edinburgh Castle, inspected 
Holy Rood Palace, saw John Knox's corner, — saw 
hundreds of other interesting things and places and 
wrote about them all in his own delightful style; and 
at last took ship at Liverpool and came home. 

% He told it all over to his friends, lectured about it 
on many different occasions, and thus divided with 
others all the instruction he received as far as possible, 
and shared the pleasure he enjoyed on his trip. But 
these things cannot be sketched even in briefest rela- 
tion here. He reached home in safety July 7th, 
wearied and glad, filled with delightful and satisfying 



Visit to the Holy Laud, 197 

memories that would never fade, and from which he 
would draw as from an exhaustless treasury in the 
elucidation of Gospel themes and the illustration of 
religious truth for the remainder of his ministerial 
life. He received a most cordial welcome from his 
beloved and loving people, settled down in the dear 
old home, and soon was hard at work again as preach- 
er and pastor and teacher and faithful citizen of 
Franklin. 



— ^S^^^33— 



CHAPTER IX. 

LITERARY WORK. 

Dr. Eaton was one of the busiest of men. If he 
had a single prominent fault, it was that of not tak- 
ing relaxation and exercise enough. There are minis- 
ters who do little else than read, write or mentally for- 
mulate sermons — sometimes two, sometimes one, some- 
times none(?) a week, — attend to necessary pastoral 
calls, do some perfunctory visiting, and conduct the 
mid-week prayer-meeting. Enough for one man's 
energies and vitality to bear up under you will say. 
But Dr. Eaton did all this — changing, if you please, 
the "perfunctory visiting" to real, faithful, friendly 
visiting of his flock — and did it all well, with the 
added duties of Stated Clerk both of Presbytery and 
Synod, and other churchly duties that from time to 
time were laid upon him. 

But he was not satisfied. There was a pressure of 
intellectual energy in him that called for some addi- 
tional outlet. He often wrote for the periodical press, 
both religious and secular. But this was only a spurt 
now and then for an hour. He was inclined to enter 
a wider field of literary production. He had the his- 
torical instinct, or a strong historical strain in his 
mental constitution, which, as Rev. J. C. Bruce, the 
present pastor of the Franklin Church, said of him in 



Literary Work. igg 



his admirable Commemorative Address before the Erie 
Presbytery at Cambridgeboro, was so pronounced as to 
show this to be his foremost characteristic as a thinker 
and writer. It cropped out often in his ordinary ser- 
mons. It appeared more freely atid fully in his dis- 
courses on Thanksgiving Days, or on occasions of 
national mourning and supplication. 

With this inclination — perhaps a phase of it — was 
joined his love of antiquarian research. The early 
occupation by the French of the spot where Frank- 
lin now stands, and their construction here of Fort 
Machault, afforded him a congenial topic for investi- 
gation of which he never tired ; and in later days he 
contributed an extended sketch of the early history of 
Franklin and Venango County to Dr. Egle's History 
of Pennsylvania. 

The discovery of Petroleum in large quantities along 
Oil Creek, in Venango County, in the year 1863, and 
the rapid and marvelous development of the industry 
in that region, creating great interest throughout the 
country, and drawing multitudes together in the "Oil 
Region," as to a new field of gold, seemed to demand 
a fuller and more accurate account of the whole mat- 
ter, with the methods of obtaining and refining the oil, 
than could be found in the newspapers of the day. 

Franklin was at that time the principal town near 
the centre of the oil-producing territory, and Mr. 
Eaton could not but feel greatly interested in what 
deeply concerned the business interests and welfare of 
the people of his Church and community. He saw 
the need of such a full and accurate account of the oil 



200 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. % 

development as that spoken of above. At first he 
hesitated about undertaking the work himself, as it 
seemed like turning aside from the sacred calling of 
the Gospel Ministry to which he had devoted his life 
and powers. 

But he at length satisfied his conscience that the 
preparation of the volume that he saw was needed 
would not interfere with his work in the Church — in 
fact would afford him needed relaxation and relief 
from his onerous duties ; and so he immediately set 
about it. He studied the subject thoroughly, made 
himself acquainted with all the details of the work of 
drilling, pumping and refining ; and within a few 
months his book, entitled " Petroleum " — a work of 
299 pages — was ready for the press. It proved a val- 
uable compend of facts for those who were seeking 
information about the Oil Region and the methods of 
Oil Production. 

Great delay on the part of the publisher who under- 
took to issue the book, interfered greatly with its success 
in a pecuniary point of view. Rival works, with 
later data relating to the rapidly developing Oil Re- 
gion and Oil interests, were soon upon the market, and 
the author did not feel justified at that time in putting 
out a second edition. But the book has often been 
called for since the first edition was exhausted. 

HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERY OF ERIE. 

But Mr. Eaton's talent for history found a larger 
and more congenial field for its exercise in a work 
which he undertook soon after his " Petroleum " had 



His lory of the Presbytery of Erie. 201 

been launched. Much of romance — or rather, much 
of history that is romantic and thrilling in its charac- 
ter — was connected with the planting and propagation 
of Presbyterianism in the region West of the Alle- 
ghenies. Settlers, large numbers of them Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians from Eastern and Central Pennsylvania, 
flocked rapidly into the country bordering on the Ohio 
River, after it fell into the hands of Great Britain at 
the conclusion of the French War. 

Pittsburgh was planted in the neighborhood of Fort 
Pitt; and after the War for Independence, it grew into 
an important town. Emigrants continued to arrive 
from the older settled parts of Pennsylvania and Vir- 
ginia, and also in smaller numbers from the mother 
countries of Scotland and Ireland. But they were 
not satisfied to fix their settlements upon the hills of 
Washington and Westmoreland, and in the well 
watered valleys of Allegheny, but began to reach out 
further into the wilderness West and North ; and 
wherever they came together -in sufficient numbers for 
the purpose, they established churches and organized 
schools. 

The first Presbytery formed West of the Alleghen- 
ies was that of Redstone, two years before the close of 
the Revolutionary War ; and seventeen years after- 
ward the Presbytery of Ohio was organized, composed 
of churches in the immediate neighborhood of Pitts- 
burgh and those North and West of that growing 
town. But the brethren in what is now Butler and 
Mercer Counties and the contiguous portions of Ohio, 
began to desire to be set off into a Presbytery of their 



202 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

own. So, by the authority of the Synod of Virginia, 
to which the two older Presbyteries belonged, a new 
Presbytery was erected in 1801, and called the Presby- 
tery of Erie — its Northern limit being the shore of 
Lake Erie. 

Sixty years had passed, and the " Fathers " of the 
Presbytery and the early missionaries, who had gone 
through labors and dangers scarcely surpassed by those 
of many of the foreign missionaries of to-day, had 
been gathered to their home of rest ; when a desire 
sprang up in the hearts of many of the younger breth- 
ren to have the history of the early times rescued from 
oblivion, and an authentic and connected history of the 
Presbytery prepared and brought down to date. But 
who should be the historian ? There was little search 
made for the proper man. Perhaps no other one than 
Dr. Eaton was even thought of. His brethren there- 
fore urged him to undertake the task, promising the 
necessary pecuniary assistance in the publication of the 
work. 

The encouragement and persuasion of his brother 
ministers, joined with his own inclination, induced 
him to undertake the work. It proved one of no 
small magnitude — including much searching of old 
records and half-legible diaries and letters, and exten- 
sive correspondence with octogenarians and the de- 
scendants of deceased ministers and elders. This for 
the History alone. Then there was to be a sketch of 
the life and labors of each minister who had been con- 
nected with the Presbytery, to be prepared with the 
greatest care as to facts, and delicacy in the mode of 



History of the Presbytery of Erie, 203 

treatment. A brief history of each church was also to 
be given. 

But notwithstanding the labor and trouble — which 
he could not but have anticipated — Dr. Eaton entered 
upon his task with energy and zeal, and prosecuted it 
with unflagging interest to the end. 

The earlier portion of the history especially is of 
great interest, and ought to be read by all the present 
generation of Presbyterians in Western Pennsylvania. 
It shows through what toil and effort the churches of 
this now rich and flourishing region of country were 
planted and maintained. It illustrates by many a he- 
roic example the stuff of which those early ministers 
were made, and sets forth their zeal, their energy and 
the power of their faith in God. The book was evi- 
dently written con amove. 

Born but eighteen years after the organization of 
the Presbytery, himself the son of a pioneer mission- 
ary, the life of the writer touched on the life of those 
earnest and self-sacrificing men, and he could enter 
with entire sympathy into the story of their labors and 
sufferings. Some of the tales of endurance and perse- 
vering faith he no doubt heard rehearsed at his 
father's fireside, when " father " Tait of Mercer, or 
"father " Patterson of Allegheny, while on a visit of 
a few days on some Communion occasion, would relate 
his own experience of " the times that tried men's 
souls." 

Nor would the humorous side of the story be lost 
sight of by the young listener ; as when, for example, 
the visiting brother would tell of the Psalm-singing 



204 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

Irishman, who strode up the aisle of the church, 
when Rev. Mr. Riggs began to read one of Watts's 
hymns, and angrily cried out to him " Quut that!* If 
you dunno* quut that I'll go up and pull you doon by 
the neck." Or when the story would be repeated of 
the Rev. Mr. Wood's disappointment in trying to get 
a cup of tea in the wilderness — his unsophisticated 
hostess, who had never heard of tea as a beverage, tak- 
ing the precious package of bohea that he had handed 
her from which to brew his favorite drink, and placing 
it before him on the table shortly afterwards in the 
form of a dish of greens. 

The story is not burdened with too much of personal 
incident, whether humorous,- or pathetic and thrilling; 
and yet enough of detail in this sort is given to lighten 
a history which might otherwise be a mere dull record 
of ecclesiastical transactions — the licensing and ordain- 
ing of ministers; the founding and dedication of 
churches, with lists of the names of Presbyterial or 
church officers; and the routine proceedings, judicial, 
supervisory, &c, of the Presbytery when in session. 

Important facts of this kind must of course appear, 
if it*is to be really a history of the body and its do- 
ings ; but the record of the body is so interspersed 
with the accounts of missionary touring and preach- 
ing, and of revival scenes and exercises, as to relieve 
it of barrenness and dullness, while it constantly stim- 
ulates the interest of the reader. 

Dr. Eaton is usually at his best in descriptive pas- 
sages. After speaking, for example, of a service of 
divine worship conducted in a spacious and airy barn, 



History of the Presbytery of Erie. 205 



in some country district, he tells of one held in the 
woods. 

"A single picture of this forest worship, " he says, 
11 will convey some idea of the early worship of the 
fathers. It is the month of June. It has been an- 
nounced far and near that a stranger from the old set- 
tlements is to preach on the following Sabbath in the 
woods near the 'Big Spring/ A great congregation 
has assembled ; and it is a motley assemblage. Every 
variety of costume and manner and expression of 
countenance is there. 

" One is habited in a suit brought from his early 
home, but since unused, save on special occasions like 
the present. The texture is still good, but the chang- 
ing fashions have left it far in the background. Another, 
perhaps, has a single garment of this kind, whilst the 
remainder of his costume is manufactured in the wil- 
derness. Still another has a costume that is nonde- 
script in its character. His hunting-shirt is deer-skin, 
whilst his lower extremeties are cased in garments of 
the same material, shrunk by the weather, until they 
completely adapt themselves to the form they were de- 
signed to protect. 

" The wives and daughters are in as good trim in 
their outward adornment as circumstances would per- 
mit. Where a bonnet was wanting, a cotton handker- 
chief supplies the deficiency ; when shoes were want- 
ing, they manifest their sense of propriety by coming 
without these appendages of modern refinement. " 

The u History " proper occupies 171 pages of a duo- 
decimo volume. It is quite complete and satisfying, 



206 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

replete with valuable facts, spiced with anecdotes and 
humorous incidents, and all wrought out in an easy 
and graceful style. Even the " Table of Contents " is 
quite appetiiing — including, for example, such items 
as " Missionary Toilers," " Mode of Travelling, " 
" Anecdotes," "Hardships," Frolics," " Revivals," 
11 Primitive Houses," " Living Out," " Manners," 
" Tedious Service," Dickson's Journal," " Missions to 
Indians," "Forest Worship," "Matrimony," "Psalm- 
ody," "Temperance," "Sunday Schools," "Evangel- 
ists," "Slavery," "Sabbath," "The Great Division 
(1837-38)" — and a multitude of other topics scarcely 
less interesting. Looking back on what he has writ- 
ten, and gathering up in memory the labors and 
trials, as well as the triumphs and holy delights of the 
noble men who planted the churches and carried on 
the work for two generations of this wide-extended 
Presbytery in Nortwestern Pennsylvania, Dr. Eaton 
closes his general history with these words : 

" The record of the orthodoxy of these men, of 
their piety, their burning love for souls, and their self- 
denying labors, is not only written in God's Great 
Book above, but is impressed upon the very hills and 
valleys that once resounded with their voices. More 
than this : It is written upon the green prairies of the 
great West ; in the distant States of New England, 
and in the stirring region of Texas. And this record 
is to be gathered amid the quiet homes of many 
States ; in the lonely military camp ; amid the rush 
and storm and crash of the battle-field, where death 
holds fearful carnival ; in the hospital, amid plague 



History of the Presbytery of Erie. 207 

and pestilence and dire mutilating wounds ; and amid 
all the varied vicissitudes of life, wherever sin has 
brought suffering and peril. 

"This sweet and beautiful record is to be found 
wherever the breaking heart has called for comfort, 
and tearful eyes have looked for relief, throughout all 
our broad land and in other lands. 

11 The influence of these men is felt in almost every 
community in Western Pennsylvania, in the peculiar 
type of religious faith and practice that prevails. The 
early fathers began their work when society was in a 
plastic state. The impressions they made became per- 
manent. They have been handed down from one gen- 
eration to another. They still affect the tone and 
character of society. 

" In addition to all this their example is on record. 

It is a bright and luminous chapter in the history of 

the church of Jesus Christ. Though dead, they yet 

speak — speak to the churches ; speak to us, their 

younger brethren, telling us — 

'The vows 

Of God are on us, and we may not stop 
To play with shadows, or pluck earthly flowers, 
Till we our work have done, and rendered up 
Account.' " 



The Second Part of Mr. Eaton's history of the 
Presbytery is called " Biographical " — being the " Bi- 
ographies of Deceased Ministers." There are for- 
ty-nine of these sketches, filling one hundred and 
ninety pages of the volume. They are necessarily 
brief, yet they seem abundantly satisfactory, both in 



208 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

the detail of facts in the career of each one, and in the 
depicting of the traits and peculiar characteristics of 
each. Nor does the writer fail to enliven his brief 
story with humorous incidents and entertaining anec- 
dotes whenever these offer themselves ; and especially 
does he endeavor to illuminate the life of every godly 
man with stories of his self-denial, of his abiding 
faith in God, or of his self-sacrificing devotion to the 
cause of his Divine Master. 

There is little sameness in his sketches. Every pic- 
ture is clear-cut and vivid. Nor are the stories of 
course of uniform length — some running to ten or 
twelve pages, others occupying but two or three. For 
some, the materials were plentiful, and could with 
difficulty be reduced or condensed. For in these cases, 
the men, like St. Paul, were " in labors more abun- 
" dant, .... in journeyings often, . . . . 
" in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in 
11 hunger and thirst ; " — for not a few were hard- 
working missionaries, and faithfully prosecuted their 
labors. Others were quiet men, settled over a church 
in some quiet community, and while true to their call- 
ing and their vows, did little that served as material 
for the pen of the historian. 

Another part of the Biographical division of the 
work is occupied with u Notices of Living Ministers." 
These at that time (1868) numbered sixty-seven — the 
names of but two of whom, Rev. Dr. Reynolds and 
Rev. R. S. VanCleve, are now (1890) on the roll of 
the Presbytery. These sketches have but little inter- 
est — excepting as a detail of the time and place of 



History of the Presbytery of Erie. 20 g 

birth, where educated, ordination, churches served, &c. 
But the labor required in gathering these facts and 
verifying them was great — especially as many of the 
ministers had left the Presbytery, and gone in many 
cases to distant parts of the country. 

The final department of the work, constituting Part 
3d, was a Historical Notice of Churches. Beginning 
with the oldest churches, and including all that had at 
any time been within the bounds of the Presbytery, 
the writer gives briefly the facts of time of organiza- 
tion (when attainable), by whom served as pastors, 
transfer to other Presbyteries (if this occurred), &c, 
&c. The oldest church treated of is that of Mount 
Pleasant, near to Darlington, Beaver County, Pa., or- 
ganized about 1798 ; and the latest that of Petroleum 
Centre, organized in September, 1865. The short his- 
tories of seventy-nine churches are thus written within 
the compass of fifty pages. 

Dr. Eaton issued a supplemental history of the 
Presbytery in 1887, bringing the account of Churches 
and Ministers down to date. 

The whole History cost him a great deal of labor — 
and also cost him more money for its publication than 
was ever reimbursed to him. It stands a monument 
to his industry and painstaking carefulness ; and 
might well bear the inscription, following his Dedica- 
tion " To the memory of the Fathers and Brethren of 
the Presbytery of Erie — " A Labor of Love. 



Many years of earnest and faithful work in the 
Franklin Church passed, including the building of the 



210 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

new church edifice, — with the episode of the delight- 
ful rest and relaxation of his five months' visit to 
Egypt and the Holy Land — before Mr. Eaton put 
another book upon the stocks. He had doubtless con- 
templated it and planned for it for a long time. We 
may well believe the project was resting, soaking — if 
the word be allowable — in his mind during the prep- 
aration of his " Presbytery of Erie," and afterwards. 
It was to be a tale of the early times of his father 
as a minister of the Gospel — u a true history of events 
u as they transpired during the early settlement of the 
" country bordering on Lake Erie, and of some of the 
" persons most conspicuous in that settlement."* 

It was published in 1880, and bore the title of 
" Lakeside: A Memorial of the planting of the 
Church in North Western Pennsylvania." The Dedi- 
cation reveals the purpose and motive of the Book, 
and is in these words: "To the Memory of my Father 
and Mother ; whose Labors of Pain and of Toil are 
here Recorded ; and whose are now the Joy and the 
Crown; this Book is Dedicated^ in Affection and 
Love." 

" Lakeside" is a duodecimo volume of over three 
hundred pages. The first chapter is descriptive of the 
region lying along the South shore of Lake Erie when 
still almost in a state of nature. It was "a forest upon 
which the axe and plow of the settler had made but a 

faint impression The huge oaks and 

chestnuts were still standing, but their glory had de- 
parted, for the sharp edge of the axe had drawn 

♦Introductory note to "Lakeside." 



Literary Work. 211 



around them a girdle that had eaten out their very 
life, and left them to decay and ruin. 

" But with the exception of these partial clearings, 
that old forest around Lakeside presented a grand 
appearance in its original majesty. On the north side 
was the Lake, rolling its heaving billows to the shore 
with the same majestic roar and measured cadence as 
had characterized it since the deluge." 

The whole description is fine, and true to nature, 
easily recognizable in the main features — the winding 
shore, the deep cut and precipitous ravines, the bound- 
less expanse of restless waters on the north, the penin- 
sula stretching out like an embracing arm to form the 
harbor of Presque Isle — by any one acquainted with 
the region where " Lakeside " is located. 

" The Pioneer," Mr. Eaton the elder, is introduced 
in the second chapter. Slight in figure, of an evident- 
ly fragile constitution, it is no wonder that the sturdy 
people who first saw him and heard him preach, 
11 shook their heads ominously — remarking that the 
young minister was too frail a plant for the lake 

wilderness and the lake storms But that 

frail young man had given his life to the work, and 
no small consideration could turn him back." 

Of course there was as yet no house of worship in 
this primitive and scattered community, and the young 
clergyman first conducted divine worship " in the bar- 
room of the only tavern in the whole region. It was 
a rude log house, but the most commodious that could 
be had." 



212 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



The course of the story — which is in the main one 
of historical facts — takes the young minister away for 
a considerable period from Lakeside; and before he 
returns, and after a lengthened missionary tour 
through the territory of what was afterwards the State 
of Ohio, he " fetches a compass," on horse-back, 
through South- Western Pennsylvania, seeks out — like 
any other human man — "the girl he left behind him" 
(she was living with her mother, and patiently wait- 
ing for him, at Laurel Hill, Fayette County), marries 
her, and brings her home to Lakeside with rejoicing. 

These facts are spread over four or five chapters of 
the story — the relating of the facts being interlarded 
with much conversation between the minister and the 
maiden of Laurel Hill, and later on with the talk of 
the good honest ladies of Lakeside, who had begun to 
more than suspect that the slender young missionary 
was engaged in something more than preaching while 
he was absent — pleading perhaps, and, as the result 
proved, with success to his suit 

And thus the story runs on through many brief 
and breezy chapters on "Organizing; the Church," 
"Familiar Visits," "The Ordination," "The Meet- 
ing- House," "Domestic Struggles," "Freezing a 
means of Grace (?)," "Pastoral Work," "Hopes and 
Lights," "Troubles from Without" (meaning the 
War of 1812, which made Erie a fighting point and 
the minister a chaplain to the troops there assembled), 
"Days of Peace," "Deer Hunting," "Fishing and 
Other Things," " Better Days," &c. 



Literary Work, 21 J 



"Lakeside" is in no proper sense a novel. The 
writer evidently did not intend it as a work of art, 
and it ought not therefore to be judged by the canons 
of criticism applicable to a work of fiction. The stern 
and troublous primitive times in which his father and 
mother bore a prominent part, and the wild forest- 
covered region, with here and there its little clearing 
and rude cabin, in the midst of which they lived and 
labored, were strongly impressed upon his imagina- 
tion; and his effort was to draw a picture of those 
times, and of that wild country, and of the men and 
women who so bravely devoted themselves to the task 
of clearing away the forests and of cultivating the 
rude primitive settlers themselves into the gentility, 
intelligence and character of a civilized and Christian 
community. Especially did the writer endeavor to set 
forth the faithful and self-denying part that his own 
parents bore in this great work. 

It is a plain unvarnished tale, in which real and, 
for the most part, very common-place people, who lead 
homely and common-place lives, are the actors. A 
thrilling and romantic tale — had rein been given to 
imagination and invention — might have been woven 
out of the materials at hand. There might have been 
the lover, the villain, and the avenger of injured in- 
nocence, and all the rest of the possible or impossible 
characters of the ordinary sensational — or, if you 
please, the intensely interesting and thrilling — novel. 
But that was not Dr. Eaton's plan. He wished his 
story to be " a true history of events/' while all the 
romance connected with it was to be confined to 'some 



214 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

of the accessories, that, like the side lights of a pic- 
ture, should bring out more conspicuously the main 
features of the work." 

In the closing chapter, " Lakeside as it is," the au- 
thor, after describing the changes that had come over 
the region of country in which his true story is laid, 
draws a picture of the changed home of his boyhood. 
" The old house where the minister lived " — he writes 
tenderly, almost pathetically — "and all the children 
" save one or two were born, has passed away, and a 
"fine farm-house now occupies its place. The old 
" Lombardy poplar still stands in its old place, bid • 
" ding defiance to the storms that have for nearly a 
" century beaten against it. Some of the old apple 
" trees planted by the minister's hand are still stand- 
" ing, but they are growing old and dilapidated. 

" Everything seems changed but the Lake itself. 
u There is the same grand view over its blue waters ; 
" the same deep voice of the storm when the tempest 
" is abroad in its wrath ; the same quiet ripples when 
" the summer sun sets behind its western wave; and 
" the same winter outlook, when the water is bound 
" in its icy chains and covered with its velvet carpet 
" of snows. 

" A grand work has been done for this entire re- 
" gion through the instrumentality of this Lakeside 
" church. Other churches of different denominations 
" have sprung up around it, yet this was the mother 
" of them all 

" There is a quiet little cemetery, very near to the 
^ spot where the pastor was ordained in William 



Literary Work. 215 



" Sturgeon's barn, where many of the congregation of 

" Lakeside now sleep their last sleep. Many names 

11 are found on the tombstones that would designate 

" the persons referred to in this narrative, yet they 

11 will not be recognized save in a very few instances. 

11 Conspicuous amongst these is a plain white marble 

"shaft, bearing the following inscriptions : 

" Rev. Johnston Eaton, 

"founder of the church of Fairview. Born February 

« 7 f 1776— Died June 17, 1847. 

" Mrs. Elizabeth Canon, 

"relict of Rev. Johnston Eaton. Born March 11, 

" 1780— Died February 6, 1872." 

Dr. Eaton completed "Lakeside" in October, 1879, 
and it was published early in the following year. He 
had not suffered the preparation of the work — for it 
had been but a delightful pastime to him — to inter- 
fere with his duties as pastor and preacher. Sermon 
and Sunday School and prayer meeting and pastoral 
duty still monopolized his thoughts and his time. He 
was still in the midst of this work — giving an hour 
now and then, by way of relaxation, to the study of 
the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Course for the 
years 1878- ? 82 — when a new and special demand on 
his pen came, in behalf of the memory of a very 
dear friend. 

Dr. Cyrus Dickson, his immediate predecessor at 
Franklin, eminent in the church as a preacher, and 
for ten years the tireless and eloquent Corresponding 
Secretary of the Board of Home Missions, died in 



216 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

September, 1881. It was most fitting that a Memorial 
volume, recounting the labors and setting forth in 
strong light the character and worth of so eminent a 
servant of the Church, should be prepared. Many 
friends of the deceased Secretary called for such a 
volume ; and the Presbytery of Baltimore, with which 
he had been connected for many years, took action on 
the subject at a meeting held soon after Dr. Dickson's 
death. 

A committee was appointed to prepare a suitable 
memoir, but nothing definite was done. It was finally 
proposed to commit the preparation of it to Dr. Eaton ; 
and this met with the cordial approval of Mrs. Dick- 
son and her family. No better selection could pos- 
sibly have been made, and Dr. Eaton entered upon his 
" labor of love," as he himself called it, with as little 
delay a^ possible. "A life-long acquaintance," he says 
in his preface, " a hereditary friendship on both sides, 
and an ardent admiration for the man and his great 
work in behalf of the Church and country, were 
elements entering into its preparation." 

Taking up the work in such a spirit, and with such 
personal attachment to the man, Dr. Eaton put all his 
strength into it. There is nothing merely perfunctory 
manifest either in the style or substance of the book. 
A warm glow of feeling pervades it throughout; and 
while the actual facts of Dr. Dickson's life and labors 
are given, they are cemented or interwoven with some- 
thing that was more than mere thought and literary 
invention — something flowing directly out of the heart 
of the writer. 



L iterary Work. 21 J 

Dr. Eaton made rapid progress in the composition 
of the book — which grew under his vigorous and in- 
dustrious pen to a volume of over four hundred pages. 
Begun in the pleasant springtime, when the mind, like 
nature, is in its freshest and most productive condition, 
it was completed during the few weeks of vacation and 
comparative ease accorded to the hard-working minis- 
ter by every considerate and compassionate church at 
the mid summer time. The preface, which is usually 
the last thing done for a book by its author in prepar- 
ing it for the press, bears date of August, 1882. 

The biography proper occupies 272 pages. Under 
the head of H The Early Dawn " Mr. Dickson's early 
life on his father's farm in Erie county, Pennsylvania, 
near the shore of the lake, is sketched, including an 
account of his father's family and of his careful train- 
ing under the care of a godly mother. "The Stu- 
dent," u The Commission," and " Pastoral Life" in 
Franklin, Wheeling and Baltimore, are topics that re- 
ceive full treatment, bringing out the noble character 
of the man, and his faithful and successful labors as a 
minister of the Gospel. 

Under the title of " The Secretary," his ten years 
of work as secretary of the Board of Home Missions, 
when, as an eloquent and fiery messenger, he went 
from church to church, and from one border of the 
broad continent to the other, proclaiming the needs of 
the great and growing populations of the Great West, 
and pressing earnestly upon the churches their duty 
towards those neglected regions — all this is compressed 
into the space of thirty-five pages; but the very com- 



2i8 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

pression seems to give the greater intensity to the glow- 
ing narrative. 

But ten years of the zealous and self- devoted work 
thus described were too much for the physical endur- 
ance even of a man of Dr. Dickson's sound constitu- 
tion when at the summit of his bodily and intellectual 
powers. He was compelled to resign the secretaryship, 
and the end began to draw nigh. 

Three more chapters of the Biography follow, entitled 
"The Man— The Christian— The Preacher," " The 
Home Life," and " The Evening and the Morning." 
They set Dr. Dickson before us very vividly just as he 
was — a man among men, in the pulpit, on the field of 
battle for the truth and the conquest of the world for 
Christ, in the home circle as husband and father and 
friend, in the easy chair or quietly pacing about the 
house, or stretched on the bed of final rest, when the 
eternal dawn began to open its curtains before him and 
the " Sun of Righteousness to arise with healing in 
His wings." 

The second and final part of the book includes the 
Funeral and Memorial Services, words of sympathy, 
Notices by the Press, and Tributes of Respect. The 
volume as welcomed and read by hundreds of the 
eloquent preacher's friends and admirers, and is a 
truly worthy memorial of one who was a great Chris- 
tian, a great preacher, and a great and useful and val- 
iant leader in the Church of Christ. 

Two other volumes that Dr. Eaton compiled — a 
" Catalogue of the Western Theological Seminary " 



L iter a ry ' J Vo rk . 2 ig 

and a " Catalogue of Washington and Jefferson Col- 
lege " — are spoken of in the chapter on " Post- Pas- 
toral Life." While a great amount of toilsome 
labor and no little literary skill were bestowed upon 
them, they are not to be classed as literature, or literary 
work, in the best sense; and, indeed, it seems almost 
pitiable that a man of the high attainments and intel- 
lectual ability of Dr. Eaton should have so large a 
portion of the last years of his life given to work of 
this character. But he rendered a great service, both 
to the College and the Seminary, in the preparation of 
the two large volumes, and through his love for his- 
torical and statistical investigation it is said that he 
really enjoyed the work. 

In connection with his talks on Jerusalem at Chau- 
tauqua, Dr. Eaton prepared, by request of Chancellor 
Vincent, a descriptive hand-book of that ancient city, 
which has proved very useful to those interested. He 
also wrote a similar little work on Palestine. Both of 
these were published by Phillips & Hunt, in their ten- 
cent series of text books. 

Mr. Robert Lamberton, an elder in the Franklin 
Church from 1862 to 1885, died in the latter year at 
the advanced age of 85 years. He was a man of strong 
character, very useful as an officer and member of the 
Church, and was several times sent as a commissioner 
to represent his Presbytery in the General Assembly. 
Dr. Eaton prepared a small volume as a memorial of 
the life and services of this excellent man. It was 
issued in 1886. 



220 S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

The contributions of Dr. Eaton to the early history 
of Franklin and Venango county have been mentioned 
in another place. These were of great value. His 
researches were thorough, and were undertaken and 
prosecuted, as well on account of his natural inclination 
towards historical study, as of his desire in this way to 
render a valuable service to his fellow citizens. 

One of the fruits of his researches and studies was 
a " Centennial Discourse: A sketch of the history of 
Venango County, Penn'a." This was delivered at 
Franklin on the Fourth of July, 1876. It was sub- 
sequently printed and formed an octavo pamphlet of 
forty- eight pages. Starting from the time (1749) when 
the French symbolized their taking possession of the 
region of country lying along French Creek and the 
Allegheny River, by burying a leaden plate with an 
appropriate inscription at the junction of the two 
streams, he follows down, in a rapid but very inter- 
esting and pleasant style, the course of the subsequent 
history. He tells of the founding of Fort Machault, 
the location of John Frazier, the first white settler, in 
the Indian town of " Winingo " (Venango), of the 
visit of Washington and his conference with the 
French commander, of the occupation by^the English 
of this important strategical point in 1760, and of a 
company of United States troops having possession of 
the same ground in 1787 and erecting Fort Franklin 
for the protection of the settlers. 

And so the narrative passes along over this exceed- 
ingly interesting track of local history, touching the 
heads of events — the coming of the early settlers, the 



Literary Work, 221 



founding of towns, the erection of mills, churches and 
school houses, etc., etc. The names of the founders of 
County families are -given and the dates of their first 
settlement, as also the names of Judges, Congressmen, 
members of the Legislature, Sheriffs, etc., with the 
years of their incumbency of their respective offices. 
This historical discourse thus becomes a valuable com- 
pend of the most important facts and events connected 
with the settlement and development of the County, 
and is recognized as authoritative in all matters of 
which it treats. 

Another small volume of this indefatigable writer, 
printed in , bore the title of " Ecclesiastical His- 
tory," etc. In it is given an account of the early 
settlers of Western Pennsylvania and of the Minis- 
ters, Churches, Church Edifices, Synods, Presbyteries, 
&c. He speaks of the hardships and trials through* 
which the first inhabitants of this new and rough 
region passed. The book covers the period from 1738 
to 1875-6. 

Dr. Eaton left in manuscript three small works 
ready for the press, each of which he evidently in- 
tended, at the time of writing, to publish. One of 
these is entitled " The Pathway of Jesus upon Earth, 
with the Lessons that Cluster around it : A Memo- 
rial of Palestine." The principal topics treated of in 
the fifteen chapters of the work are Bethlehem, Naza- 
reth, Sea of Galilee, Doomed Cities, Bethany, Geth- 
semane, Calvary, the Holy City. All the facts attain- 
able with regard to these various topics are gathered 



222 S J. M Eaton, D. D\ 

* 

op. The history of each place, as given in the Bible, 
as well as the later, or modern, history, is recounted, 
and a topical description given — all accompanied by 
suitable reflections. The book, if printed, would make 
a 16mo volume of probably 200 pages, and would, no 
doubt, prove an interesting and instructive work. 

A still larger manuscript work, prepared for the 
press several years ago, was laid aside when Dr. Eaton 
learned that a book bearing a nearly identical title had 
just been published. This is called " The Master's 
Own Words; Compiled from the Four Evangelists, 
with Notes Practical and Explanatory of the Con- 
nection." Each utterance of Christ, from His " Suffer 
it to be so now," etc., in Matt., 3 : 15, to the final word 
to Peter, " If I will that he tarry till I come," etc., is 
explained and commented upon. If printed it would 
# form a book of nearly 300 pages. The third volume 
that he left in manuscript is called " The Lord's 
Table : Preparation for its Solemnities and Enjoy- 
ment of its Privileges." It is smaller than either of 
the others. Its general scope is explained in the fol- 
lowing words taken from the preface : " The brief 
chapters are offered to the plain Christian to direct 
him in his meditations, to assist him in his self-exam- 
ination, and to minister to his comfort as he approaches 
the Lord's Table." 



CHAPTER X. 
THE PREACHER. 

While Dr. Eaton was a lover of learning for its 
own sake ; while he was the author of valuable histor^ 
ical books, a frequent writer for the press, and an easy 
and graceful letter-writer; and while he was a well in- 
formed and practical man in ecclesiastical affairs, a 
devoted pastor, and an active and useful citizen — he 
was above all a preacher. This he set out to be when 
a boy at home — this he strove with all his powers and 
by the grace of God to become, through the many 
years of his preparation — this he was, — all things else 
being subordinated to the one work of being a herald 
of the blessed Gospel of the Son of God. 

Much has been said in other parts of this volume 
about Dr. Eaton's style as a preacher. His methods 
of study have been glanced at. Those who sat under 
his pulpit ministrations for years place him before us, 
from their respective points of view, as thinker and 
reasoner and earnest pleader as an " ambassador for 
Christ." But the picture would not seem to be com- 
plete without some samples taken from his sermons 
that were put in print through the intervention of 
friends, or that are still accessible in manuscript form. 

But the extracts must of necessity be brief, and 
after all may not serve to show, to those who were not 



224 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

accustomed to hear him, what he was as sermonizer 
and preacher, nor to satisfy the people of his charge 
whose memories still recall great sermons, or eloquent 
passages in sermons, which they listened to with rapt 
attention, and by which they were deeply moved. 

The first selection given is from a sermon preach- 
ed on Thanksgiving Day, 1852, in the fourth year of 
his ministry, from the text: " He hath not dealt so 
with any nation" His general subject was " Provi- 
dence in American History. " He treats it under three 
heads, namely, "The past history of our Country," 
"Our present position," and "Our future destiny." 
Each of these heads has three divisions. Under the 
first head he shows that God's hand was manifest "In 
the discovery of the country," " In its early settle- 
ment," and "In His Providential Care." God's in- 
tervention, is also manifest, he argues under the se- 
cond head, " In the present strength and prosperity of 
the nation," "In the respect and confidence accorded 
it abroad," and "In its elements of perpetuity." 
Under the third head, that of "Our future destiny," 
he shows that God has here raised up : First, "A new 
phase of humanity ;" Second, "A new phase of gov- 
ernment;" Third, "A new phase of Christianity." 

These various points are treated briefly, but with 
much force of argument and clearness of illustration 
and he concludes his discourse with a general view of 
the past, and an outlook on the future, that — after 
those terrible events in our country that have become 
matter of history — cannot be read without deep inter- 
est. It is as follows : 



The Preacher. 225 



" Looking, then, at the history of the past, the sit- 
uation of the present, and the indications of the future, 
what must be our conclusion with regard to this Union 
-of ours. We cannot fail of seeing the hand of God 
in its planting, in its growth, and in its preservation. 
It has flourished in days gone by, because God's aid 
was invoked at its origin. It is still preserved because 
the earnest prayers of ten thousands of humble Chris- 
tians are ascending up day by day, and entering into 
the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth. And it will be 
preserved as long as the sweet chimes of the Sabbath 
bell are heard in our valleys, and re-echoing from our 
hill-tops, so long as there is a free church in our sanc- 
tuaries, and so long as there is a pure ministry to stand 
at the side of her altars. 

" As a nation, we have been sometimes engaged in 
war, but we believe that our mission is peace — like our 
great Master — ' peace on earth good will to men/ 

" As a consequence of all this, the preservation of our 
Nationality is a matter of momentous importance. 
Men sometimes talk lightly of the dismemberment of 
this Heaven-sent Union, but they realize not the mad- 
ness and folly of such thoughts. We believe that the 
hand that touches the safety of this Union, touches the 
apple of God's eye. We read of deeds of darkness 
and infamy, that have been perpetrated in the world's 
history, but that deed of darkness and infamy has 
never been perpetrated since the days of Judas Iscariot, 
that would equal in enormity of wickedness, and 
Heaven -daring perfidy, the very beginning of an at- 
tempt to overthrow the pillars of our National Union. 



226 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

He that would attempt it, would secure to himself an 
eternal inheritance of shame and infamy. 

11 We should learn a great lesson to day. — We look to 
other nations that have been great before us. but which 
have vanished Mike foam upon the waters.' We 
look upon contemporary nations, and then at our own, 
and we must exclaim with full hearts, ' He hath not 
dealt so with any nation.' 

*' As we listen from this eminence to day to the voice 
of History, earnest groans come up to us from the deep 
dark grave of nations, that are echoing and re-echoing 
over the broad surface of earth, telling of national 
pride and national glory, of bannered hosts and 
plumed warriors, of temples of science and temples of 
Justice, swept from the scene of action and buried 
amid the wreck of the past. 

"And those solemn voices tell us in connection with 
our own, that side by side with the temple of Liberty, 
must be erected the temple of the living God, that 
upon the same platform with the altar of Freedom, 
in yet bolder relief must be erected the altar of the 
despised Galilean. They tell us that if we would en- 
joy perpetuity as a nation, the minister of Justice must 
be in our midst, with his balance and his sword, that 
the priest of the mysteries of science must be in our 
midst. But that higher and holier priest, the steward 
of higher and holier and more glorious mysteries, 
must also be with us, standing by the altar of God, 
and pointing to the High and mighty Ruler of the un- 
iverse as the God of nations and of individuals, to the 



The Preacher. 22 7 



High Priest of Calvary as the Savior of sinners* and 
to that rest that remaineth, as the soul's eternal repose." 

The following sermon was preached about a year 
and a half before Dr. Eaton resigned the pastorate of 
Franklin Church : 

"the great preacher. 

11 He Preached the Word Unto Them.— Mark 11 : 2. 

" The world was getting weary when Christ came. 
It had listened to so much jargon and had been deceiv- 
ed so often by those who alleged they had somewhat to 
say that it was ready to sink down in despair, There 
had been the cry, ' Lo ! here/ and ' See ! there/ yet 
nothing had come of the cry. In all nations of any 
cultivation there was the expectation of the coming of 
some great teacher. There was the feeling that some 
important message would soon be delivered. This was 
particularly the case in Judea, where the light had 
fallen from the word of God. Christ appears, and 
there is the accompaniment of mighty works and most 
persuasive words. Many say: * This is the Messiah. 
We have found Him of whom Moses, in the law, and 
the Prophets did write.' And many believed in him 
and received him into their hearts. Peace settled down 
in their souls and they were confirmed in the truth of 
God.- Then Christ went on preaching the Word of 
Divine Truth until His time had come to bear His 
cross in the hour of His agony and go up to His 
throne to reign eternally. 

"The Great Preacher still delivers His message. He 
is still preaching, not alone by the side of Galilee, but 
in farther lands than were represented at the great 



228 S.J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

Pentecost. He has come across the continents and over 
the ocean. His truth falls everywhere, like the snow 
flakes in the time of winter, or the almost invisible 
dew drops in the time of the summer heats. And He 
preaches now, just as He did when He was here, 
wherever he finds an audience. His cry is a more gen- 
eral one — more universal : l Ho ! every one ! Hear, 
and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlast- 
ing covenant with you ! ' It is a personal message 
that comes to each one of us. We cannot get away 
from it. We need not feel, any one of us, that the 
invitation is not designed for us, for it is couched in 
such terms that we cannot be mistaken if we suppose 
the Lord is speaking to us individually. And now let 
us look for a little time at the Great Preacher. 

"The character of the message is often judged by the 
person who bears it. On unimportant occasions our 
government sends out agents without any particular 
features to recommend them. But when the matter is 
important, the very best men the country can furnish 
are accredited and sent out with all the circumstances 
of authority and honor, that they may have all due 
respect and authority in the presence of the govern- 
ment to which they are sent. When Nicodemus went 
to see our Lord and talk with Him on the great mat- 
ter of life he said : * We know that Thou art a 
teacher sent from God.' And the reason he gave was 
this : ' No man can do the miracles Thou doest ex- 
cept God be with him. ? And now we say the same 
this day : We know that Christ is the sent of God, 
because no one could do the things that He does unless 



The Preacher. 229 



he had been sent of God. But does He work miracles 
as He did when He was here ? Does He heal the sick ? 
Does He cause the blind to see? Does He raise dead 
people from the grave ? We answer, Yea, verily, He 
does. No people so sick with fever, with palsy, with 
leprosy, as those whose whole souls are diseased with 
sin ; no eyes so blind as those which sin has closed so 
that they cannot see their danger ; no death so hope- 
less through human instrumentalities as that in which 
the soul is involved, and that leads to eternal perdi- 
tion. Yet every day is this great Healer, this wonder- 
ful Prophet, this mighty Saviour, healing such sick as 
these, opening such eyes as these, raising from the dead 
such slain as these. This Preacher, then, was sent 
from God. He bears God's high commission. That 
commission is signed by the hand of God. It is sealed 

in the court of the Highest 

" Then he was possessed of Infinite knowledge. There 
is really nothing that is Infinite but God and His 
attributes. You stand on the shore of the great ocean 
and look out on its bosom and it seems Infinite, but 
you know that men have sailed across it and away 
around the world. You look out at the greater ocean 
that seems to roll so quietly over your heads, with its 
multitude of floating star crafts, and it seems as though 
it was an infinite distance to the planets and stars, yet 
you know that men, in their investigations, have meas- 
ured the distance to the planets and to the stars and 
have computed their pathway over the vast blue deep. 
Yet there is something beyond. It is the Infinite 
power of God behind the ocean and the sky ! And 



230 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

man's knowledge is not Infinite ; there is a limit to 
his understanding. He may have crossed the sea, he 
may have circumnavigated the globe, he may have 
computed the distance to the fixed stars, yet is there a 
limit to his understanding 

" But there comes a voice from the Infinite heights, 
sounding away beyond the stars, mightier than the 
sound of many waters, sweeter than the fabled music 
of the spheres. It tells us that all things were made 
by God — that He is above all and that in Him all 
things consist. And Christ is the embodiment of all 
this power and knowledge" 

He next speaks of the preacher, and compares him 
with John the Baptist and the Apostles John and Peter 
and Paul, to show His superiority to all others. He 
then proceeds : 

" We look now at the great theme. He preached 
the Word unto them. There have been many import- 
ant messages delivered in the world's history. There 
have been dispatches pertaining to State craft and 
National safety, to the fortunes and lives of individ- 
uals, to the peace and comfort of society. Many a 
beleaguered fortress has received terms of surrender 
that involved the lives of men and the honor of the 
State In the days of the great Revo- 
lution, nearly a hundred years ago, when this coun- 
try was well nigh worn out with war and hardship, 
when the feelings of weariness and want were filling 
the people with desire of rest from war and all its ter- 
rors, a messenger came into the camp under the pro- 
tection of a flag of truce. He was clothed in the 



The Preacher. 231 



uniform of the enemy and bore dispatches from the 
commander of the forces of Britain. The dispatches 
proposed to surrender to the American commander. 
This meant the giving up of the struggle. It meant to 
this country peace, independence, and prosperity ; to 
Great Britain, total abandonment of the brightest 
jewel in her crown. 

" But a more important message than this was that 
which Christ bore to men when he came here to 
preach. It was connected with the matter of life and 
death — eternal life and eternal death ! It was to tell 
how God could save men who had sinned and fallen, 
and how they might be made the friends of God and 
the heirs of his kingdom. It was to propose terms of 
deliverance from death and the blackness of darkness 
forever. This was the preaching ; the satisfaction to 
law and justice came afterwards. This was the mes- 
sage : to flee from the wrath to come and lay hold on 
the hope set before them. And now the same great 
theme is before us. It looms up, if we but properly 
look at it, as the great sun does among the stars. It 
overshadows all questions of a secular, a scientific, of a 
governmental and social kind. It is the great ques- 
tion of the eternities ! 

11 The question of the soul's salvation is involved in 
this grand theme. This is the one supreme question 
with persons who are to live forever. All other pri- 
vations are as nothing compared with this, the loss of 
God's favor forever. The loss of health, of limb, of 
reason, of life itself, may be endured ; but this means 
total, eternal loss. If you were to go to the art gal- 



232 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

lery in Antwerp to day, you would find an artist, born 
without hands or arms, busily engaged painting with 
his toes, and as happy a man as any of his brother 
artists. You sometimes see in our streets, men with- 
out lower limbs, yet managing to get round without 
very much trouble. You find persons without reason, 
seemingly enjoying the animate life that is allowed 
them. Some of the happiest persons we see are those 
who are going down to death ; they feel the change 
coming, yet have a desire to depart and be with 
Christ, which is far better. 

"But the loss of the soul is the great loss of all the 
ages; it is the final loss of happiness, of peace, of 
heaven. It means utter abandonment of God and 
utter exclusion from all that makes existence a bless- 
ing and a joy, and salvation is the opposite of all this. 
It means deliverance from all the disabilities of sin ; 
it means the rescue of the soul from that shipwreck 
that would else be eternal and hopeless. That word 
salvation will never put on its royal robes, it will 
never assume all its beauty, until we stand on the other 
side and feel that we are safe in the home of our God. 
It is only the old soldier after the war is over that 
can feel the full meaning of the term safe in the time 
of Peace. He looks back over the weary march; the 
fierce charge; the assault of the enemies works; the 
fire of shot and shell; the fever in the hospital; the 
confinement in the prison; the loathsome effects of 
wounds and starvation and filth ; and wonders that he 
could have escaped all these. So it is only the old 
soldier of the cross that can take in ti\e meaning of 



The Preacher. 233 



the word salvation ; and this only when the march, 
the assault, the deadly rush in the fight with satan 
and sin, are all over, and he has passed the awful 
chasm that has been bridged over by the infinite love 
of God 

11 We look now at the audience to whom this message 
is delivered. It was composed of people who needed 
to hear. They were people sinning and dying and 
going up to the judgment. They were in want of 
light, in want of the truth, they needed to have the 
way pointed out to them, by which they might attain 
to happiness. It was by the shore of the beautiful 
lake that Jesus loved so well, that he stood telling the 
things that pertained to the kingdom. There were 
the citizens of Capernaum there : Fishermen, scribes, 
merchants, laborers, professional men, housekeepers, 
mothers, children ; all classes, all ages ; all shades of 
taith and persons with neither faith nor creed. But 
all were on the way to the judgment ; all were in this 
world to prepare for another state of existence, and 
they needed the gospel to help them to find the way of 
life and assist them in pursuing it. 

"So it is now. The audience is the same, as to class 
and condition of life. It is made up of all who read 
the word of God ; of all who hear the word preached; 
of all to whom the truth has come in any shape. And 
this truth has come to all in Christian lands. It has 
found its way into offices of professional men ; into 
the marts of trade ; into the shops of the artisans ; 
into the laborer's home ; into the abodes of pleasure 
and fashion ; into the homes where children are 



234 & 7- M. Eato?i, D. D. 

trained up for the great business of life ; everywhere 
does the call go ; everywhere does the invitation go ; 
'come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden 
and I will give you rest.' .... 

" Everyone here is in the way of the offer and the 
promise. Each one of us has the offer of eternal life. 
All that is wanting on the part of any one is a willing 
mind. And the Lord knows just what your feeling is 
in this matter. If there be in your mind a willing- 
ness to forsake all and follow Christ ; to lay every- 
thing on the altar, for his sake and for his honor ; 
then he says : Trust all to me, follow me ; confess 
my name and I will give you rest and peace. I will 
guide thee safely and well, and bring thee to my home 
and make all light forever 

U A few years ago, a ship in the North Atlantic 
Ocean, near the equator, was surprised to see another 
ship, with signals of distress raised and apparently in 
great trouble. Coming near enough to hail them and 
inquire their wants, they cried out. i We are perish- 
ing for want of water. Our supply is exhausted and 
we have not had a drop to drink for two days.' 
The cheerful hail was returned : l Dip up and drink* 
There is good sweet water all around you. You are in 
the mouth of the great River Amazon, and it is a 
hundred miles to salt water in any direction/ This 
was the truth. Without knowing it, they had been 
for twenty-four hours in the midst of this mighty body 
of fresh water. Water was all around them, although 
they knew it not. But they lost no time in heaving 



The Preacher, 235 



their buckets overboard to bring up the bright sweet 
water for their refreshment and life. 

11 Is there not something like this in your case, fel- 
low mariner, over life's salt ocean ? Some of you are 
atheists. Some of you give signals of distress. You 
cry out for the sweet, living water of divine grace. I 
hear your hail, and reply as the Captain did : ' Dip 
up and drink.' The water is all around you, without 
your knowledge. Take and drink and your soul shall 
live. The Lord calls; I but echo his words : ' Who- 
soever will let him come and take of the Water of life 
freely.' But you are waiting to have this water brought 
you in your own way. You would see it coming. 
You would hear a voice from heaven, proclaiming the 
Lord's presence, and the water thrust into your lips 
without trouble on your part. • Come and drink,' is 
God's word. The water is near, drink and live ! " 



The extracts following are from several sermons — 
not taken as " gems " of thought, but simply to indi- 
cate Dr. Eaton's style as thinker and writer on various 
subjects. They are submitted with diffidence, almost 
reluctance, by the compiler, aware as he is that his 
judgment and taste may not at all accord with the 
judgment and taste of those who for many years lis- 
tened every Sunday to the living preacher, and received 
his u gracious words" — not in the form of " cold type" 
— but warm and vital with the presence and unction of 
the deeply earnest man himself. 



236 S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" The soul in its new creation is a great and mighty 
work, even in the hands of the Lord. There have 
been many great poems written to illustrate the 
world's history. ' Paradise Lost' recounts the history 
of the soul in its condition of holiness and purity, 
with its fall from that purity and its rebellion against 
God. The strain is a sad one, yet full of great 
thoughts. It is in the major key as regards the work 
of God and his angels, yet in the saddest of all minor 
keys as regards man. And this new creation of the 
soul, by the power of God, is the grandest of all 
poems, for it recounts the victory after the battle; it 
tells of the power of truth over error ; the kindling 
up of light in the midst of darkness, and the final de- 
struction of the work of Satan. It recites the com- 
pletion of the greatest conflict in all the universe, and 
the putting to flight of all the enemies of God. If 
there be the sad minor strain as we recount the steps 
by which the work is commenced and perfected, the 
tears, the sad voices, the suffering, the dying, there is 
also the triumphant shout of victory, as a soul is re- 
deemed and saved forever." • • 



" The great thought before us is that Jesus is near in 
time of need. In a wide, deep sense, we are always in 
need; and in the same sense, he is always near. We 
may all of us ; saint and sinner ; strong Christian and 
feeble Christian ; indifferent sinner and inquiring sin- 
ner, cry out, with most earnest heart : ' I need thee 
every hour ! 9 And there is not one of us but, feeling 



The P readier. 237 



our need and crying for help, would he able to see 
Jesus walking upon the water. And more and better 
than this: We would fiud his presence calming the 
water, soothing the storm, and making all to be peace 
in our hearts. 

"A few years ago, as that mighty steamer, the Great 
Eastern, was crossing the ocean, a passenger related 
that a fearful storm was encountered, of which the 
passengers generally were ignorant. The vessel was 
so long and large that it reached from billow to billow, 
and thus avoided the rocking and the tossing that 
would have happened to a smaller craft. Yet the 
danger was perhaps just as great as though a smaller 
craft had been in use. The great strength and length 
of the ship was an advantage, but there were corres- 
ponding disadvantages. There was danger of strain- 
ing the hull as the mighty Leviathan was balanced on 
the crest of some gigantic billow, or of breaking asun- 
der amidships through the sheer power of gravity. 
We feel so strong sometimes that we do not see the 
storm; nor do we feel the danger. Yet danger may 
be nigh, and it may be very great. But sometimes, 
nay, perhaps oftentimes, we do see the storm and feel 
the danger. Yet we do not always feel the power of a 
present Savior in helping us, in sustaining and deliver- 
ing us. Now the great, the wonderful thought we 
wish to impress upon your minds is, the presence and 
power of Christ to sustain and deliver in trouble. " 



" That was a most interesting interview between 
the Lord and Nicodemus, It was night, and no ear 



23S S y. M. Eaton, D. D. 

was near to hear save that of the Lord and the ruler* 
The subject was the most important that could be in- 
troduced. The Lord alone could give light on that 
subject. And now you and I can go to him in the 
same way, and all alone with him we can hold audience 
with him. He is as ready to hear now as when he sat 
with Nicodemus under the night shadows. And he 
would say to us just as he did to him : Ye mu3t be 
born again ! And he would say to us : The Son of 
man is lifted up ; believe in him and thou shalt not 
perish, but have everlasing life. Go then and believe. 
And believing, go to him every day ; talk to him 
every day. Let him take you by the hand every day 
and you will find your spiritual strength renewed 
every day. You will find the burdens of life becom- 
ing lighter. You will get clearer views of the father's 
house. You will hear the sweet voices of heaven 
more and more distinctly. You will be able to lean on 
God's strong arm as you wait patiently for the bright 
appearing of the Lord, and the call home to his 
Glory." 



"This matter we call faith is a sublime thing. It 
is the basis of a large proportion of the actions of 
life. There is faith in common things. There is 
something grandly sublime in the very idea of push- 
ing a ship out into the great ocean, knowing that in 
twenty four hours there will be nothing visible but 
the deep blue water and the illimitable sky, reaching 
up to unknown heights, and bending down until it 
seems to rest upon the waters. Yet on, and still on, 



The Preacher. 2jg 



the frail ship pushes its way, with nothing in view but 
the sky and water, directed simply and wholly by a 
slender magnetic steel bar we call the Mariner's Com- 
pass. The seafarer never doubts but that he shall 
reach the other side, following the direction of this 
oscilating needle. It is to him God's finger, pointing 
solemnly yet surely to the magnetic pole. And now 
in all religious matters, we are to have the same faith 
in God. The vast future is to the soul more of an 
unknown and trackless waste than the wide ocean is 
to the ship ! We know not whither we are going 
when we enter upon a religious life, but we know 
that there is a power above and around us that will 
guide us and bring us to the desired haven. And 
now God is calling us to launch out into the great 
deep, and trust in him. If we do so he will show us 
the way ; he will guide us safely and will finally show 
us his glory. In all things where we cannot see, we 
must trust ; and if we trust in God, we shall never be 

deceived 

" It is a great thing to feel that God knows best and 
to have no will but His. And to enable us to be all 
this and to do all this we need the help of God's 
Holy Spirit. For this help, we must seek. It should 
be a part of every prayer we offer that God would 
help us to know and do his will, by imparting the 
Holy Spirit to us. We need this Spirit's power to 
enlighten our minds, to sanctify our souls, to give us 
energy and taste for the work, and to help us to over- 
come the difficulties that are in our way. And all this 
is not the work of a day nor a year, when God has 



2 4 o S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

many years in reserve for us. Working, striving, 
suffering, perhaps, but still waiting the time when the 
Lord shall call. And in this there may be both quiet- 
ness and peace. In the thought of the power and 
faithfulness of the Lord there may be faith and this 
faith may grow; from the little grain of mustard seed, 
it may become a great tree, and under the shadow of 
its branches we may find a shelter that will be to us 
like the constant presence of the Lord, until we are 
ready to go home." 



— e^@/^^9— 



CHAPTER XL 

POST-PASTORAL LIFE-CH AUTAUQUA— LAST DAYS. 

Dr. Eaton had but recently entered on the sixty- 
third year of his age when he resigned the pastorate 
of the Franklin Church. He was still in vigorous 
health, with his natural force unabated. His mental 
powers had given no sign of decay. There were signs 
of age upon him, as already noted, but they were not 
a true index to the active mind citadeled in that still 
robust frame. Perhaps rest was more welcome to him 
after exertion than it had been twenty- five years be- 
fore. Perhaps he may have given fewer hours to 
sleep than in the days of his early manhood. Per- 
haps he was less ready to start on a long walk through 
the woods and over hill and dale, or to enter upon a 
long journey. Home was dearer to him and quiet 
more congenial. But his mind was still keen and 
alert, and as ready to dip into a fresh volume on phil- 
osophy, theology, or science as when he was under the 
meridian of his manhood. 

He was still ready, therefore, for any call that his 
church — the church of his fathers and of his own de- 
voted loyalty and attachment — might make upon him, 
and was always willing and anxious to preach the Gos- 
pel whenever opportunity offered, or do any work 
whereby men might be benefitted and Christ's king- 



242 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

dorn advanced. The great Chautauqua movement for 
popular instruction in Sunday School methods, and 
the wider extension of a knowledge of science and 
sound literature, had been inaugurated a few years be- 
fore his retirement from the pastorate, and he had 
entered into it with great interest — connecting him- 
self with the first C. L. S. C. class formed, and 
prosecuting the studies with great diligence. These 
he now continued with increased zest, and did what he 
could to encourage and help others who had under- 
taken the same course of study. 

When the Western Theological Seminary at Alle- 
gheny, where he studied divinity, determined to issue 
a Biographical and Historical Catalogue, there was no 
long search for a proper person as a compiler of the 
work. It was a laborious undertaking. It required 
great accuracy and untiring care. It demanded pa- 
tience. A tedious correspondence must be had with 
"ministers, or with their descendants and relatives in 
all parts of the country, and even with missionaries in 
heathen lands — letters often repeated over and over 
and sent to different points. Dr. Eaton's qualities of 
perseverence and carefulness were well known. When 
the work of compilation was offered to him, he may 
have hesitated at first to enter upon it; for he could 
see at once that it was a difficult and tedious undertak- 
ing, with nothing in its preparation to stimulate or 
give pleasure to a man of scholarly habits and intel- 
lectual capacity. But it must be done. Some friend 
of the Seminary must bear the burden. He had lei- 
sure, and the patience and perseverence to go through 



Post- Pas tor a I L ife. 2 / j 

with the task if he undertook it. And so it seemed to 
him like a work brought to him by the hand of Prov- 
idence, and he accepted it. It is not necessary to add 
that he performed the task thoroughly well and to the 
satisfaction of all concerned. It was completed in 
1883. 

Very shortly after his release from the charge of the 
Franklin Church, in February, 1882, for the advan- 
tage of a change of scene a»d objects of thought, after 
the cares of the pastorate had been lifted, he went with 
his wife to the south, and passed the remainder of the 
winter and the early spring in Jacksonville, Florida. 
But the summer found them for a few weeks in Frank- 
lin. When the Chautauqua season opened they were 
again in the summer city by the Lake, and gave them- 
selves up to the high enjoyments of that centre of 
religious instruction and of scientific and literary cul- 
ture. 

Meantime the small house that stood upon the lot 
his Franklin friends had given him, he had had re- 
placed by a large and commodious one, and there 
re-established his home. He had strong local attach- 
ments, and his heart would still turn back to the quiet 
little parsonage near the church, and to the room 
within the church where, surrounded by his books, 
he had passed so many happy and laborious hours. 
All seemed changed in the new home, and it took time 
to habituate him to the new order of things, and to 
make his literary work seem easy as of old. 

But considerable time elapsed before the happy 
couple settled permanently into their new home. 



244 ^ J- M - Eaton, D. D. 

They went south again for the winter of ISSN'S; then 
were in Philadelphia for a considerable period, and 
did not return to the pleasures of house-keeping till 
the year .1887 was well advanced. 

In 1884 Dr. Eaton was called by the General As- 
sembly of his Church to a new and important work. 
The Board of Publication carries on a very extensive 
business, involving all the work of a large publishing 
house. Much had been said from time to time in the 
Assembly, when the report of the Committee on Pub- 
lication would be presented, on the management of the 
Board, its methods of doing business, the prices 
charged for books, &c, &c. It was therefore thought 
best that a Special Committee should be appointed to 
make a thorough examination into the affairs of the 
Board and report at the next meeting of the General 
Assembly. Such a Committee was accordingly appoin- 
ted, and Dr. Eaton was made its Chairman. The re- 
maining members of the Committee were Hon. John T. 
Nixon and Hon. James P. Sterrett. 

They met in Philadelphia in October, 1884, and 
agreed upon a method of procedure. An expert ac- 
countant was employed ; but to Dr. Eaton himself, as 
Chairman, fell the work of a general superintendence 
of the operations of the Committee ; and for the next 
two years he spent much of his time in Philadelphia, 
constantly occupied in the examination with which his 
Committee was entrusted. 

A partial report was made to the General Assembly 
which met in Cincinnati in May, 1885. But the Com- 
mittee was continued for the purpose of completing 



Chautauqua* 245 



their examination — to report finally at the next meeting 
of the Assembly. The work was continued, Dr. Eaton 
devoting himself to it with his usual assiduity. The 
final report was laid before the Assembly in session at 
Minneapolis in 1886, and the Committee discharged 
with the following commendatory resolution : "Re- 
solved, That the cordial thanks of the Assembly be ten- 
dered to the Chairman (S. J. M. Eaton, D. D.,) and 
members of the Special Committee on the Board of 
Publication, appointed in 1884 and continued in 1885, 
for the ability and fidelity with which they have dis- 
charged their trust." 

CHAUTAUQUA. 

Dr. Eaton's connection with the work at Chautau- 
qua, his early interest in the movement itself, and his 
practical devotion to the courses of study pursued 
there, show his clear judgment and " levelheaded- 
ness," his broad liberality as a Christian minister, and 
his Christ-like spirit. His early training, his natural 
prejudices, his theological education, and his long 
career as a Presbyterian minister, deeply interested in 
all the movements and enterprises of his own branch 
of the Christian Church, it might have been supposed 
would incline him to treat with indifference, or turn 
away from, the scheme of religious and scientific and 
literary training set on foot in the woods bordering 
Chautauqua Lake, by Dr. J. H. Vincent and the 
other prominent leaders, who, for the most part, were 
connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

But he was able to see more than the outside of this 
movement — what was visible only to the eye. He 



246 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

saw Christian principle at the heart of it. He saw a 
scheme for wide-spread popular education on Chris- 
tian principles and within the church of Christ ; and 
he was not narrow enough to keep aloof from it lest 
another denomination might reap most of the fruits 
and garner all the glory of success. But it was not 
his nature to be narrow or jealous, or to have a tilt 
with every man who professed to read a different le- 
gend on one side of the Christian shield from that 
which he was sure he saw on the other. 

He had spent too many years in harmony and 
friendly co-operation with brother ministers of the 
Methodist Church in Franklin — exchanging pulpits 
with them on occasion, and giving help and encour- 
agement whenever there was need — to be afraid or re- 
luctant to join with brethren of that great church 
in their newly inaugurated work at Chautauqua. 
" Prove all things" — and then " hold fast that which 
is good," was his motto. In this case he both 
"proved," or tested and tried, and he u held fast" 
most tenaciously and to the last; for he found the en- 
terprise was "good" — great and successful, indeed, 
and of wide-reaching usefulness. 

For the first four or five years he simply pursued 
the C. L. S. C. course of reading and study (at the 
same time assisting others near his home by his lead- 
ership and suggestions), and enjoyed the lectures and 
special instructions given on the grounds during the 
season. But in 188- the management asked him to 
take charge of the large model of Jerusalem, and to 
give a talk or lecture on the topography of the Holy 



Chautauqua. 24J 



City every day (Sundays excepted) from 4 to 5 o'clock 
p. m. during the Chautauqua season. He took charge 
of the work and continued it with great interest and 
acceptability from that time on until the summer of 
1889, when his health had become too much impaired 
to perform any active public service. 

He was one of the most successful readers of the C. 
L. S. C. courses — first completing the first Four 
Years' Course, that of 1878-82, and then accomplish- 
ing all the supplementary reading during the follow- 
ing years. He became one of the permanent and re- 
liable leaders, and by his kindness, courtesy and help- 
fulness made hosts of friends among all true Chau- 
tauquans. 

In 1881 he and Mrs. Eaton established a cottage on 
the grounds, and in the later years made their home 
there from June to October. They enjoyed and pro- 
fited by the busy and stirring scenes during the As- 
sembly season, and then they enjoyed the quiet and 
restfulness of the peaceful autumn days that followed. 

An active and earnest member of the Franklin 
branch of the C. L. S. C. Class, to which Dr. Eaton 
belonged, and of which he was the devoted and effi- 
cient leader, has kindly furnished an account of its 
organization and progress, including many very inter- 
esting facts relating to Dr. Eaton's connection with 
it. In this as in all the work that he undertook, Dr. 
Eaton was zealous and constant, performing his own 
part faithfully, and helping in all suitable ways those 
who needed stimulus and help. 



24S S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

After stating that he had not been present at Chau- 
tauqua, in 1878, but had read "with kindlings of 
heart the glowing reports of speeches and addresses 
made, of letters and poems read, and other things re- 
lating to that prophetic day in which the Chautauqua 
Literary and Scientific Circle had its birth — " the 
writer proceeds : 

" Touched by the new inspiration, I called a meet- 
ing in the Methodist Episcopal Church (Franklin) for 
the purpose of organizing a Class. Some twenty-five 
or thirty persons responded. The idea was presented 
at some length, as far as understood, and a reso- 
lution adopted to form a Class, a number of 
those connecting themselves being among the final 
graduates. Dr. Eaton, who had not yet returned from 
Chautauqua, was elected President, and Dr. J. N. 
Fradenburgh, Vice President. Dr. Eaton was an en- 
thusiastic Chautauquan. We knew his zeal and felt 
no need to consult him on his willingness to undertake 
what we even then knew would be a task. 

"On his return home Dr. Eaton called a meeting in 
his own Church. Through his leadership the Class 
was soon in possession of books and following out the 
course of study. His devotion to us and our interests 
inspired us all to efforts that without such incentive 
would not have been possible. We knew he was person- 
ally interested in us all, entering into our home-life 
and the hindrances to our successful study. We often 
knew him to refuse invitations to social gatherings* 
rather than lose the evening with his Class ; and he 
laughingly told us once, when we were rejoicing over 



Chautauqua. 249 



the fact that he had come to us from a most desirable 
company, that he had several times suggested an ear- 
lier hour for wedding ceremonies, for parties coming to 
the parsonage, that he might be free to come to his 
Class. 

"As a leader he was surely long-suffering toward us. 
With all his learning and scholarship, he ever pre- 
served the most humble spirit, always standing as one 
of the students, yet "apt to teach, patient." He man- 
ifested the most tender consideration for those who 
asked sometimes absurd questions relating to the les- 
sons. He would explain, never by any sign betraying 
his knowledge of the fact, but so kindly and clearly 
presenting the subject that all would be benefitted, and 
no one in asking an unfortunate question was ever 
made to feel that they had done so. His Christ-like 
spirit was a reproof to any ungentle discussions ; and 
in the four years there were often occasions when he 
was tried ; but the love that " never faileth " was his, 
and during all this time it grew more and more appar- 
ent. He had type- written programmes for his meetings, 
which were opened by singing a hymn and prayer, and 
then the lessons were entered upon at once. 

" Sixteen of the original class (of some 40, 1 believe,) 
graduated in 1882, and as we stood outside of the 
* Golden Gate ' on that first Recognition Day, Dr. 
Eaton with Dr. J. L. Hurlburt stood at the head of 
the double columns of eight hundred students, who 
represented the class of seventeen hundred in all parts 
of the world, and led in the reading of the 28th chap- 
ter of the Book of Job. That precious chapter had 



250 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

grown more precious to us through our years of study. 
We were beginning to see that ( the price of wisdom was 
above rubies;' and Dr. Eaton had never failed to say, 
' Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.' 

" Many of the Class failing to complete the course in 
the four years, afterwards graduated, and notices of our 
progress were often in the Chautauquan. In those 
early days Dr. J. H. Vincent could and did write per- 
sonal letters of encouragement to the circles, and often 
spoke highly of Dr. Eaton. In one now before me he 
says : ' I well know the ability of Dr. Eaton. I take 
very great pleasure in his Chautauqua enthusiasm, his 
practical suggestions and the services which he so un- 
selfishly renders at Chautauqua. Your testimony con- 
cerning the work of the circle has been very gratify- 
ing.' 

" It was my pleasure, knowing Dr. Eaton's love for 
flowers,' and fondness for button* hole bouquets, to send 
to him and Mrs. Eaton at Chautauqua abundant sup- 
plies of flowers and button-hole bouquets, with which 
he for years decorated the corps of platform speakers. 
Dr. Vincent would say : ( I do not wear a bouquet, 
but will this in honor of the C. L. S. C.,' and prob- 
ably the only ones he wore at Chautauqua were the 
ones Dr. Eaton gave him. 

"In 1888, Dr. Eaton and his most estimable 
wife gave a reception to the graduates of his local 
class, and all members of the C. L. S. C; and on that 
most enjoyable occasion, once more, and for the last 
time, we heard again his words of encouragement and 



Chautauqua. 251 



enjoyed his scholarly fancies, indulged for our pleasure 
and instruction, in a beautiful address. 

" Graduating members of his class were honored with 
a seat next to his loved ones on the occasion of his 
funeral. They saw the dignity and peace of his face 
in death ; they stood by his open grave, and saw the 
1 narrow house/ resting on its bed of cedar branches, 
and as a last offering of love they strewed it with flowers- 
While their tears fell, they knew that all was well with 
him ; that the palm was the emblem, and the cleansing 
blood the token by which his pure spirit entered into 
eternal rest." 

The following very cordial tribute of thanks was 
given to Dr. Eaton by the members of the Franklin 
Circle : 

" Dr. S. J. M. Eaton, President of the Local Circle, 
. Franklin, Pa. 
" Dear and honored friend : 

u We wish to express our gratitude to you for your 
unselfish devotion to our interests in the four years you 
have presided over our meetings. Some of us have 
not been faithful in attendance, — but you have never 
failed. Some of us, by reason of our busy lives, are 
far behind in our readings ; but you have always a 
word of encouragement. Those of us who will prob- 
ably finish the course, are greatly indebted to your 
helpful work and words, and your ' patient continuance 
in well doing.' We all unite in thanking you heartily 
for the time and labor spent in our behalf — but most 
of all for the personal, heartfelt sympathy and interest 
you have ever manifested toward us. 



25 2 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" We also unite in requesting you to continue to pre- 
side over our Local Circle ; and we will ever remain, 
Yours gratefully. — " 
Signed by Class of '82, and also Class of '83-'84. 

In 1879 Dr. Eaton became a Trustee of Washing- 
ton and Jefferson College, Washington, Penn'a. An 
alumnus of Jefferson College — graduated from that 
institution when at the height of its prosperity, and 
when it was sending forth yearly large classes of thor- 
oughly educated young men, most of whom were 
destined to become ministers of the Gospel — he had a 
strong and almost loving attachment to his Alma 
Jlater, and also to the quiet town in which it stood, 
because it bore his mother's name. But when Wash- 
ington College and her elder sister Jefferson — friendly 
rivals for more than fifty years, and standing but 
seven miles apart over the Washington hills — were 
united under the name of Washington and Jefferson 
College, and their common seat fixed in the town of 
Washington, Dr. Eaton was not one of the " bitter- 
enders," ready to fight the union to "the last ditch." 
Loyal to the memory of his old College, he would 
show his loyalty by clinging to her fortunes wherever 
they led. When, therefore, he was elected a member of 
the Board of Trustees, he did not hesitate to accept the 
position, and faithfully performed the duties imposed. 

Some twenty years or more after the union of the 
two colleges had been accomplished, it seemed impor- 
tant that their histories and those of their respective 
alumni should be traced out, and the two separate 
streams drawn into the common channel of their 



Chautauqua. 253 



united history. Such an undertaking involved an im- 
mense amount of labor. Who could undertake it? 
Again, as in the case of the Historical Catalogue of 
the Theological Seminary, there seemed to be but one 
man thought of as having the energy and other neces- 
sary qualifications for the difficult task, and that was 
again Dr. Eaton. His having the leisure, added to 
his conscientious feeling that he ought to do the work 
that came to his hand, led him to accept the laborious 
undertaking. It filled for three years much of the 
time that he ought to have given to rest and recuper- 
ation. He sent out thousands of letters — tracing from 
pillar to post with these missives the men who for 
eighty years — nearly three generations — had gone forth 
from the walls of both Colleges and of the united 
College, and borne their various parts in the business 
and professional life of this country and of other 
countries; and then made record in brief of the his- 
tory of each one from birth to death. 

He did his work faithfully, although in the later 
months it must have been in the midst of weakness 
and weariness. The last proof sheets of the last 
pages of the work came to him on the day when the 
translating Angel came with such sudden wing and 
bore him to the mansions of rest; and the book thus 
finished must remain his memorial, in the archives of 
Washington and Jefferson College, of a difficult task 
well and faithfully done. 



254 $ 7- M - Eaton, D. D. 

LAST DAYS. 

The last months and days of the life of a beloved 
friend, when those nearest and dearest come to look 
back upon them through the sacred and intensifying 
medium of the final scene and the latest spoken word, 
seem almost too private and precious to be reviewed, 
except in the silence of the consecrated chamber of 
memory. While husband, or wife, or dear friend, is 
still in the accustomed place, on couch or easy chair, 
or pacing with languid step the chamber, and the rou- 
tine of daily life goes on — although the form is 
wasting, and the cheek growing thinner and paler, 
and the step more feeble — we cannot believe that the 
dreaded messenger is really giving these tokens of his 
approach. Strength will come back again, we think, 
and the flush of health will again mantle the face, and 
the tottering step become firm. But when the spirit 
has taken its flight ; — when the eyes are closed, and 
the familiar voice is at last silent, and there is no 
response of smile or recognizing look as you gaze into 
the pallid face, then, O what a revelation there is of 
the past ! All things are brought to our remembrance. 

There was perhaps the doubt expressed about being 
able to complete the work in hand; or a quiet remark 
made beginning with " If I should not get well ; w or 
there was the request, when you spoke of going out, 
" Could you not stay with me tonight ?" Or perhaps 
you were asked to read some comforting passage of 
Scripture ; or there may have been merely the looking 
after you as you passed about the room, as if the 
thought were pressing almost to the lips, " soon I will 



Last Days. 255 

be gone, and will see her (him) no more." O so many 
such things come back to haunt the memory — upbraid- 
ing you that you were not more discerning, and did 
not see that the inevitable parting hour was drawing 
on apace ! 

But Dr. Eaton gave few such tokens. Occasionally 
in a letter to a friend he would give an intimation 
that he felt the end was not far off; as in a note to the 
writer, but a few days before the end came — speaking 
of the precarious state of his health : "But the Lord's 
will be done. All is right" But generally he was 
silent and patient, and was cheerful in word and man- 
ner, lest he should give pain, or start feelings of 
apprehension. He felt the weakness that was draw- 
ing upon him, and doubtless was well aware that his 
vitality was gradually ebbing. 

But he kept on at his work. Letters must be an- 
swered ; that book mud be pushed on to its conclusion ; 
the request of a friend for some favor must not be de- 
nied ; home duties must not be relinquished or relaxed. 
— The attractions and duties of the Chautauqua season 
were impelling him to go back again to his little cot- 
tage, meet his old friends with the same word and 
smile of hearty welcome, and stand as of old at the 
model of Jerusalem, and with the same animation and 
interest point out the place of the Temple and of the 
Cross and of the Sepulchre. 

But tired and wasting nature here entered her veto 
— thou shalt not. Reluctantly he obeyed the command. 
He would stay at home this summer, and by another 
season he would have recovered his health and strength, 



2j6 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

and be able to take up the burden of life again, and 
enter into the enjoyments, intellectual and religious, 
provided by the University in the Woods, with all his 
old zest. 

This was his hope at times. But he was not with- 
out the apprehension — the anticipation, may we not 
rather say ? — that the end was not far off. Was he 
not on the home stretch of the " three score years and 
ten?" And had he not fought the good fight? had 
he not finished his course ? had he not kept the faith ? 
and was there not laid up for him the crown of right- 
eousness ? 

His last day dawned. He opened his eyes on its 
pleasant light, and there was the usual impulse to rise 
as of old and enter upon the duties and work of the 
day. But there was a sense of weariness upon him, 
and he lay abed late. After rising and taking a slight 
breakfast, he concluded to try the fresh air of the de- 
lightful July day, and about eleven o'clock he went 
out for a short drive. After dinner he sat and rested 
and read till about four o'clock. Then taking his 
cane he went out upon the street, saying in his usual 
quiet manner that he would " take a short walk." 

When near the residence of Mr. Campbell on Elk 
street, he was seen suddenly to throw up his hands and 
fall to the pavement. Kind hands lifted him up and 
bore him to his home. He was still breathing when 
laid upon his bed, but only opened his eyes and seemed 
to recognize his wife, gasped a few times, and all was 
over. 



Last Days. 257 

Thus passed away from the earth, July 16th, 1889, 
by the sudden failure of the functions of the heart, 
Samuel John Mills Eaton, when but a few months 
past the 69th anniversary of his birth. 

He died as he had wished to die — without a long 
illnesss, with his faculties unimpaired, and when his 
work was done. It might have been wished that such 
a man, — so confident in the hope of the Gospel, so full 
of experience as a man and as a Christian preacher for 
forty-one years — would be privileged at the last, and 
in full prospect of death, to bear testimony to his 
abiding faith in Christ, and to the full hope of immor- 
tality that was in him. But this was not needed. His 
triumph over the world, and over sin and the powers 
of darkness, had come long before. His testimony to 
the power of the Christian faith had been uniform, 
and his hope -of eternal salvation had become indeed 
" as an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast, en- 
tering into that within the vale." 

The shock .to his devoted wife, and to his many 
friends far and near, many of whom did not even 
know of his failing health, was very great. They 
could scarcely credit the terrible news, and words of 
sympathy for her who was so suddenly bereaved 
poured in by every mail. The immediate friends and 
acquaintances of Dr. Eaton in Franklin, where, be- 
loved and honored, he made his home for forty -one 
years, felt his loss as a personal grief, and not a few 
were moved to tears as for their dearest friend. 

Sincere and touching eulogies appeared in the pub 
lie press, and the whole community was in mourning 



2j8 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

as for one whose loss was irreparable. There was 
something in his character — his gentility, his earnest- 
ness, his sincerity, his manliness — that brought him 
near to all hearts. 

As a writer in a leading journal of Venango County 
said of him : " If the attempt were made to charac- 
terize Dr, Eaton by any single word, there is perhaps 
no word nearer approaching correctness than Marge- 
hearted ;' for he was instinctively and essentially a 

large-hearted man His manner was 

always humble, helpful and gentle. His charitable 
judgment, his genial bearing, his youthful spirit, tem- 
pered with the grace of well spent years, made him 
always accessible, ever ready and unceasingly kind to 
younger men. 

" Next to his large-heartedness, Dr. Eaton's manhood 
was marked with an unusual purity. It colored, or 
rather clarified, his motives, his speech and his judg- 
ment of others. His very presence and acquaintance 
gave the atmosphere of cleanness to speech, thought 
and behavior." 

The loss of such a man in a community such as 
Franklin and the prosperous oil region of Venango 
County had become, was a public calamity. A sense 
of this was shown by the large numbers attending his 
funeral. Not only many of his brethren in the min- 
istry were there, his co-workers at Chautauqua, and 
the members of his old church of Franklin en masse ; 
but also large numbers of his fellow-citizens of other 
churches and of no church, came to testify to their 



Last Days, 2$g 

high respect for one who was truly a man, and above 
reproach. 

The funeral services were held in the Presbyterian 
church of Franklin; on Friday the 19th of July, and 
were solemn and impressive. An account of these 
will appear in full in another part of this volume. 
His mortal remains were borne from the portals of 
that church into which, in its planning and construc- 
tion, he had put so much of prayer and thought and 
labor, and within whose walls he had preached with 
all earnestness the blessed Gospel for thirteen years ; 
and were deposited in the Franklin Cemetery ; and as 
the words " Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" were solemn- 
ly uttered, one could almost hear the "voice from 
Heaven saying : ' Blessed are the dead who die in the 
Lord, from henceforth: Yea, saith the spirit, that they 
may rest from their labors; and their works do follow 
them.'" 

"Asleep in Jesus ! blessed sleep ! 

From which none ever wake to weep ; 

A calm and undisturbed repose, 

Unbroken by the last of foes." 



--6^^ / ^J^r~~ 



II. 

FUNERALand memorial 

SERVICES, 

AND 

LETTERS OF SYMPATHY. 



I. 

FUNERAL SERVICES AT FRANKLIN. 

On Friday morning, July 19th, at the hour of ten 
o'clock, the body of the beloved Minister was borne 
to the Church in which he had preached during the 
last thirteen years of his pastorate, and which is well 
called, in the resolutions subsequently passed by the 
Session, " His Monument." The audience room had 
been suitably draped -with mourning emblems, and 
tastefully and elaborately decked with flowers ; and 
when the casket was placed in front of the pulpit, 
flowers in many emblematic forms were placed upon 
and around it. It was of cedar, and of a special de- 
sign, with columns at each corner, and was trimmed 
with oxidized silver, with massive handles and richly 
finished. On the silver plate was the inscription, 
"S. J. M. Eaton. 1820-1889." 

The pew which Dr. Eaton had usually occupied dur- 
ing his later years, was draped in mourning emblems 
and stood vacant. " The organ was festooned with 
smilax, and large bunches of daisies showed against 
the dark background. It was surmounted by a white 
dove. On either side of the choir gallery were large 
banks of daisies and ferns. A large wreath in front 
of the desk was sent from Chautauqua, and a beauti- 
ful floral pillow on the casket was the gift of the Chau- 
tauqua class of 1882. A floral urn placed at the head 
of the casket was the gift of Mrs. Gillett and Mrs. 
Cochran, life-long friends. 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 26j 

"To the left of the pulpit a conspicuous floral piece 
was a cross, with a white dove resting on the centre 
with outspread wings. This was a tribute from the 
Rev. J. N. McGonigle, pastor of the Church of Oil 
City, and Mr. Young. To the right of the pul- 
pit stood the deceased pastor's old pulpit chair, draped 
in crape, and on it rested a shepherd's crook composed 
of yellow roses, white carnations and smilax, the gift 
of the Sunday School ; and the chair was full of white 
roses sent by personal friends. A floral anchor was 
the tribute of the Elders of the church. Interspersed 
with all the set pieces were a great many beautiful col- 
lections of roses sent by friends from all parts of the 
city." 

At eleven o'clock, the bereaved wife and the broth- 
ers and sisters and other relatives entered and took 
their places. Upon the pulpit platform were the fol- 
lowing named clergymen of the Presbytery of Erie : 
Rev. Richard Craighead and Rev. Jonathan Edwards, 
D. D., of Meadville ; Rev. J. T. Crumrine of Coch- 
ranton ; Rev. W. T. Garroway, of Utica, and Rev. 
Wm. Grassie, of Cambridgeboro: Also Rev. James 
Allison, D. D., of Pittsburgh, and Rev. J. M. Barnett, 
of Washington, Pa. These, with Rev. J. C. Bruce, 
and Elders P. McGough, James Miller, R. H. Wood- 
burn and C. H. Dale, afterwards served as pall- 
bearers. 

The services opened with an anthem by the Choir : 
— " Cast thy burden on the Lord, and He will sustain 
thee, and strengthen thee, and comfort thee." The 
Rev. Richard Craighead offered the following Prayer: 



264 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we invoke 
thy blessing to rest upon us on this sad and mournful 
occasion. We rejoice, however, that our Lord God 
omnipotent reigneth ; that though Thy ways are not as 
our ways, nor Thy thoughts as our thoughts, yet Thou 
doest all things well. Help us to bow in humble sub- 
mission to this affliction that has visited us. Sanctify 
this great grief to us, and unto each and every one of 
us ; and enable us to realize that this is not our abid- 
ing place or continuing city : that we are strangers and 
pilgrims here. 

Let us look upward and onward to our future, 
blessed, glorious Home, where there will be no sick- 
ness, no sorrow, no separation, no death. Bless, we 
pray Thee, the exercises on this occasion ; sanctify 
them unto this Church and unto this community; and 
Thine honor, Father, Son and Holy Spirit shall have 
the praise, forever, Amen. 

The following passages of Scripture, selected by the 
Rev. J. C. Bruce, Pastor of the Franklin Church, 
were read by the Rev. J. M. Barnett, of Washington, 
Penn'a. 

"The days of our years are three score years and 
ten. 

"So teach us to number our days that we may 
apply our hearts unto wisdom." — Ps. 90 : 10, 12. 

"They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of 
the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteous- 
ness, as the stars for ever and ever." — Dan. 12: 3. 

"The path of the just is as the shining light, that 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 265 

shineth more and more unto the perfect day." — Prov. 
4: 18. 

" Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of 
his saints."— Ps. 116: 15. 

" And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, 
write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord 
from henceforth : 

"Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
labors; and their works do follow them." — Rev. 14: 13. 

u Wisdom is justified of her children." — Matt. 
11: 19. 

11 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights 
burning ; 

"And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for 
their Lord ; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they 
may open unto him immediately. 

"Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when 
he cometh, shall find watching." — Luke 12 : 35-37. 

" And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not 
with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring 
unto you the testimony of God. 

"For I determined not to know anything among 
you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 

" And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and 
in much trembling. 

"And my speech and my preaching was not with 
enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration 
of the Spirit and of power. 

" That you should not stand in the wisdom of men, 
but in the power of God." — 1 Cor. 2 : 1-5. 



266 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

11 Ye know, from the first day that I came unto you> 
after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, 
serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with 
many tears. 

"And how I kept back nothing that was profitable 
unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you 
publicly, and from house to house, 

" Testifying repentance toward God, and faith to- 
ward our Lord Jesus Christ. 

"Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that 
I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry 
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify 
the gospel of the grace of God. 

" Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I 
am pure from the blood of all men. 

",For I have not shunned to declare unto you all 
the counsel of God. 

" Take heed to yourselves. Watch."— Acta 20 : 18, 
20, 21, 24, 26, 27. 

" Let a man so account of us as of ministers of 
Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 

" Moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man 
be found faithful. 

" But with me it is a very small thing that I should 
be judged of you, or of man's judgment ; yea, I judge 
not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself, 
yet am I not hereby justified ; but he that judgeth me 
is the Lord."— 1 Cor. 4: 1-4. 

"And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and 
to the word of his grace which is able to build you 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 267 

up, and to give you an inheritance among all them 
which are sanctified." — Acts 20: 32. 

" By the grace of God I am what I am." — 1 Cor. 
15: 10. 

" Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and 
forever."— Heb. 13:8. 

"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." — 
Philip. 1: 21. 

"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: 
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." 
— Ps. 17: 15. 

"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded 
that he is able to keep that which I have committed 
unto him against that day." — 2 Tim. 1 : 12. 

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with 
me : Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." — Ps. 
23: 4. 

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith. 

"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judoe, 
shall give me at that day : and not to me only, but 
unto all them also that love his appearing." — 2 Tim. 
4: 7, 8. 

" Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be 
comforted."— Matt. 5: 4. 

" Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your 
God."— Is. 40: 1. 



268 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

" The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because 
the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings un- 
to the meek. 

" He hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted ; 
to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that 
mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, 
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for 
the spirit of heaviness." — Is. 61 : 1, 3. 

u I, even I, am he that comforteth you." — Is. 51 : 12. 

" Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give unto you. 
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid."— John 14 : 27. 

•*I am the resurrection, and the life: he that be- 
lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; 
and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
die. 7 '— John 11: 25, 26. 

" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? 
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor thing present, nor 
things to come, 

" Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature* 
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." — Rom. 8 : 35, 
38, 39. 

" Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of 
all comfort ; 

" Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we 
may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, 
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comfort- 
ed of God.— 2 Cor. 1 : 3, 4. 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 26g 



There was then sung the following 
HYMN. 

I know not the hour when my Lord will come 
To take me away to His own dear home ; 
But I know that His presence will lighten the gloom, 
And that will he glory for me. 
Chorus: — And that w r ill be glory forme, 
Oh, that will be glory for me ; 

But I know that His presence Will lighten the gloom, 
And that will be glory for me. 
I know not the songs that the angels sing, 
I know not the sound of the harps' glad ring ; 
But I know there'll be mention of Jesus our King, 
And that will be music for me. 
Cho. : — And that will be music for me, &c. 

I know not the form of my mansion fair, 
I know not the name that I then shall bear ; 
But I know that my Savior will welcome me there, 
And that will be heaven for me. 
Cho. : — And that w r ill be heaven for me, &c. 



ADDRESS OF REV. DR. ALLISON. 

It is often said that life is a mystery. But no less a 
mystery is our passage through life ; and the closing of 
life is pre-eminently a mystery. We come into this 
world in different circumstances ; our temperaments 
and dispositions are widely different ; our employ- 
ments are different, and we pass our days in pathways 
wide apart. But notwithstanding all this, there comes 
a time when one event happens unto all. We know 
not what it is — what feelings it awakens, what realiza- 
tions it brings. 



270 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

Of the Christian, death is said to be " To depart, 
and to be with Christ ; which is far better." This is 
precious, this is blessed ; but yet in our present expe- 
rience it is one of the things that we cannot compre- 
hend. It is what remains to us of the future. Some 
great and good men have been so anxious to form some 
proper conception of what dying, what departing to be 
with the Lord, is, that they could hardly wait until 
the time for experiencing it had arrived ; among 
whom was the celebrated John Foster. But in this 
world we only see in part, we only know in part. 
Most is reserved for the future. Whatever this mys- 
tery is, our Brother has experienced it. To him death 
had no sting ; over him the grave has no victory. 

I presume the principal reason why I have been 
called to speak on this occasion is the fact that I have 
known Dr. Eaton so well, and been so intimately ac- 
quainted with him ever since we were brought together. 
In this view of the case, then, I will confine myself to 
some of the more prominent peculiarities of his char- 
acter. 

And the first that I will mention is his pre-eminent 
Christian Manliness. He was so the man of God, so 
truthful, so honest in his convictions, that he could 
scarcely understand what guile, deceit, or prevarica- 
tion was in the case of others ; for he was just what 
he seemed to be — he was just what people took him to 
be ; he was just what those who knew and loved him 
wished him to be. 

Then, in the second place, connected with this, was 
Thoughtfulness. He was pre-eminently a thoughtful 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 2ji 

man. He did not go through the world with eyes and 
ears closed, but he saw much, he heard much, he read 
much. He thought much of the people with whom he 
met, of the incidents he encountered, of the progress 
made in the world and in the church, of public men 
and public events. He thought much of the history 
of the past and especially of the history of the Bible. 
He thought much upon the subject of religion, espec- 
ially upon his personal connection therewith, and the 
connection of those near and dear to him therein ; and 
he formed his conclusions concerning that upon which 
he thought carefully ; and having done this he adhered 
to them with tenacity. 

But notwithstanding his apparent gravity, the world 
and his pursuits, his surroundings, and all his associa- 
tions were pleasurable to him. He took great delight 
in the beauties of nature and of art and of literature, 
and he enjoyed the society and fellowship of friends, 
especially of those with whom he was intimate and 
whom he felt he could trust. He knew what wit and 
humor and pleasurable communications were, and he 
enjoyed them ; hence he was one of the most delight- 
ful of companions to those who knew him well. Those 
who went to his house and enjoyed his hospitality re- 
ceived pleasure and gave pleasure ; and when he 
entered the families of others, how happy was he, what 
happiness did he impart to the household ! And of 
what he was as a husband, it is not for me to speak. 
There are memories enshrined within the sanctuary of 
the heart of her with whom he journeyed so many 



2j2 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

years in life that are not to be touched with hands so 
rude as mine. 

In the third place, there was another thing most no- 
ticeable in Dr. Eaton. Whilst he was tolerant, whilst 
he would apologize for defects and for injuries, he had 
no apolo.gy or toleration for mere pretense, for mere 
sham ; and he could discover either of these easily. 
They were abhorent to his very nature, and he was 
not slow to condemn them. As a student he was at- 
tentive, successful, standing up in the front rank in a 
class in which there were men such as the Hon. James 
P. Sterrett, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of 
this State, the late Hon. Wm. S. Latham, United 
States Senator from California, the late Rev. William 
F. Hayne, General Richard Coulter, and Louis R. 
Miller, to say nothing of others. To stand well 
among these and up with them and abreast with them 
was no small honor. 

Then among his accomplishments was one marked 
in a very high degree, and that was his character as a 
writer. Rarely do men attain greater proficiency in 
the use of the English language, rarely do men express 
themselves in writing with greater clearness, or 
force, or beauty. Hence it was not strange that 
when our class held its Fortieth Anniversary in 1885, 
a distinguished visitor, not a member of our class, 
from Ohio, known throughout the Nation, the Hon- 
orable William H. West, declared Dr. Eaton to be the 
Addison of the class; and not only of the class, but 
of the college in his day. That he was entitled to this 
distinction, that he maintained this character, is well 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 2J3 

known to all who have read his different publications, 
his articles in the public journals, and his books. 

But again, in the next place, permit me to speak of 
him as a Theologian. Early in life he was thoroughly 
instructed in the great doctrines of the Bible as set 
forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith. This 
he loved, this he admired, to this he held most tena- 
ciously unto the end. He was well read in the Word 
of God, well read in the standard theologies, and, 
what was well, he studied what he read, he thought of 
what he read. In theology, what he read was food to 
his soul, he was refreshed, stimulated, quickened, ele- 
vated, and enlarged by it; and this brings us naturally 
to look upon him as a Preacher of the Gospel. I know 
that upon entering on his duties as a pastor he felt as- 
sured of this, That the great duty of the pastor was 
two-fold: To instruct and edify those already Chris- 
tians, and to be the means of bringing to repentance 
towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ those 
who were still without. This idea dominated his 
whole ministry. 

In his preaching he never lost sight of those who 
were Christians, but who needed to be fed, to be 
instructed, to have their Christian character strength- 
ened and to be made to bring forth fruit; and at the 
same time he kept in mind those still impenitent, those 
who had not yet made a confession of faith, feeling 
that to them appeal, warning, and incentive were due. 
And these two ideas ran more or less conspicuously 
through all his sermons. In this way he vindicated 
himself as pre-eminently a shepherd feeding the flock, 



274 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

and his preaching was such that good seed was sown. 
That seed has been bringing forth fruit ever since ; 
that seed will continue to bring forth fruit here and 
wherever he preached the gospel, in this generation, in 
their successors, and still down to succeeding genera- 
tions; for the good seed of the Word lives on and on. 

Then, moreover, whilst he was faithful to his work 
here, faithful to his church here, he did not forget the 
church at large. To it he rendered many and import- 
ant services, highly appreciated, highly valued, and 
that will continue to be in remembrance ; for he was a 
man of large views, he looked upon the church as it is 
now and as it was to be, the work that it was accom- 
plishing now and that it was to do in the future. He 
had perfect confidence in the success of the church ; 
he had perfect confidence in the ability of the Preacher 
of the Gospel, and of the other means of grace, under 
the blessing of God, to bring the Nations of the World 
to the feet of Jesus to place a crown on His Head, 

Such was Dr. Eaton ; such was his life ; such was 
his work ; such was his reward : " Well done, good 
and faithful Servant ; enter Thou into the joys of thy 
Lord!" Farewell, Friend, Brother Beloved! Thou 
hast attained the mountain of myrrh and the hill of 
frankincense ; thou hast entered within the vale ! 
Farewell, " until the day break and the shadows flee 
away," when we hope, by grace, to enter with Thee 
into the joys of our Lord. 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 275 

ADDRESS BY REV. WILLIAM GRASSIE. 

The times are many in which speech is silver and 
silence golden. The occasion that brings us together 
to day is one such ; and I confess to a sense of hesitan- 
cy in mingling my voice with the solemn pathos of 
those silent lips before me. Death is the commonest 
event in the world, and yet there is nothing so un- 
common. To this wife who comes to God's house to 
day, and is here with her dead, it is new and fresh, as 
if wife had never been made widow before — an en- 
tirely new sorrow. 

My acquaintance with Dr. Eaton began twenty 
years ago, while we were members of different eccles- 
iastical communions, covering the same ground, and I 
serving one of the churches in the Presbytery of 
which he was a member, by which means we were 
brought in contact. From the first, this struck me in 
regard to Dr. Eaton: The real dignity and urbanity 
of the man ; courtesy joined to manliness of carriage. 
That thought has been with me ever since — the Chris- 
tian courtesy and catholicity of his mind towards all 
who loved the Lord Jesus. A man who loved God, 
he was ever and everywhere a Christian, a Christian 
man, a Christian minister, yet with nothing put on. 
There was no need to assume anything. It was there, 
and he simply allowed his true self to express itself. 

We have had a great deal of correspondence touch- 
ing ecclesiastical matters connected with Presbytery ; 
and I do not know that I ever received a letter, or 
even the briefest note, from him that did not close : 



276 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

"Your Brother in Christ Jesus." There is the bond 
that united us; .that the tie which enables us to be 
catholic and all-embracing in our Christian sympa- 
thies, in our views of man, God, truth, His Church 
and Kingdom. 

I am thankful, and exceedingly thankful, for all the 
influence for good which I know my intercourse with 
Brother Eaton has exerted upon me. A good man, 
cheerful, not sour, morose, or in any way repulsive ; 
yet rigid with himself, holding himself to the strict- 
est account, and maintaining stoutly what he felt to be 
right. 

The influence of Dr. Eaton in our Presbytery has 
been most happy and most extensive, occupying, as he 
did, for so many years, the important position of 
Stated Clerk, both for Presbytery and also in the 
Synod, so long as it was confined to this part of the 
State. He was our ecclesiastical authority. The 
wheels of business ran smoothly because oiled with 
his wisdom and love. He was the person of ultimate 
reference in all questions of ecclesiastical doubt, or in 
matters of fact and history pertaining to our Presby- 
tery. We thank God for his stainless life. Yea, let 
us thank Him again for that life, into which there 
was woven so much of the Lord Jesus; a life which 
in turn has woven itself into the Church of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, both near and far. 

His work in giving a history of our Presbytery to 
the people of these churches ; his work of collecting 
and publishing those things so valuable to be known, 
and becoming more and more valuable as the years go 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 2JJ 



by — those beginnings of things ; as portrayed, for ex- 
ample, in his little work, " Lakeside/' when all was 
new and all was real and simple and earnest, when re- 
ligion and salvation were foremost thoughts in the 
minds of men, — his work in these books has been a 
benediction to thousands, and will continue to be, 
though he has passed away. 

Like these flowers which are shedding forth for us 
their sweet perfume in this solemn presence, his life 
will yield us sweet memories, holy influences, and give 
forth an aroma like the rose through years yet to 
come. Thank God for Christ; for the Christian re- 
ligion ; for what it can make of a man, and help him 
to be and to do ! 

At the close of this address the great congregation 
united with the choir in singing the following 

HYMN. 

Asleep in Jesus ! blessed sleep, 
From which none ever wake to weep ; 
A calm and undisturbed repose, 
Unbroken by the last of foes. 

Asleep in Jesus ! oh how sweet. 

To be for such a slumber meet ! 

With holy confidence to sing 

That death has lost his venom'd sting ! 

Asleep in Jesus ! peaceful rest, 
Whose waking is supremely blest ; 
No fear, no woe, shall dim that hour 
That manifests the Savior's power. 

Asleep in Jesus ! oh, for me 
May such a blissful refuge be ; 
Securely shall my ashes lie, 
Waiting the summons from on high. 



278 S. J. M. Eato?i y D. D. 

Prof. W. D. Bridge, the private secretary of Bishop 
J. H. Vincent, was present from Chautauqua in a rep- 
resentative capacity. He said : "At this very hour, 
in the Hall of Philosophy at Chautauqua, there is a 
larger gathering than this, holding a Memorial Ser- 
vice in behalf of Dr. Eaton, which is conducted by 
Dr. Vincent. In nine years of Chautauqua exper- 
ience," the Professor added, "I have never seen a sense 
of more profound sorrow than is shown over the death 
of Dr. Eaton, who was an efficient worker in all the 
lines of Chautauqua work." 

After further remarks, Prof. Bridge presented the 
following resolutions, adopted at a meeting of the 
Chautauqua Class of '82, held the day before (July 
18th): 

" We, the members of the Class of '82, wish to voice 
our sorrow and our great sepse of bereavement in the 
death of our honored and beloved classmate, Rev. S. 
J. M. Eaton, D. D., who has been to us as an inspira- 
tion. He has been our counsellor and tried friend 
and helper in every emergency. 

" We also desire to tender to Mrs. Eaton our most 
sincere sympathy in her great sorrow and irreparable 
loss. May the kind Father support her in this time 
of trial." 

Signed by the Committee. 



PRAYER BY DR. EDWARDS. 

Lord God, Thou art our life and the length of our 
days, and it is Thou who givest richly all things that 
we enjoy. Thou livest and reignest forever, and 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 279 

though Thou tufnest man to destruction, yet the heart 
of Thy people is stayed upon Thee ; and though Thou 
sayest, Return, ye children of men, yet Thy covenant 
stands fast through a thousand generations. Thou 
carest for us, carest for our people, carest for the inter- 
est of the truth in the earth, carest for the redemption 
of sinful man. And from age to age Thou dost raise 
up and qualify standard-bearers of the truth, ambas- 
sadors for Christ, faithful ministers, deep in experience 
of the grace of God that bringeth salvation. We 
humbly thank Thee for the tokens of Thy mercy in 
the life and character of the Brother so recently gone 
from us. We rejoice that Thou didst save him and 
call him with an holy calling, and delight in him by 
Thy Spirit, and work in him by Thy Grace, the will- 
ing and the doing, the purposing and the living, which 
ever attend the doctrine of God, our Savior. We re- 
joice in his usefulness, so extensive and so varied. We 
rejoice in the natural endowments which have attracted 
and attached so many to him. And now his sudden 
death we rejoice to believe is to him sudden glory. 

O our God, we pray this departure may be sanctified 
by Thy blessing, and that it may be instructive to us 
all. So teach us to number our days that we may ap- 
ply our hearts unto wisdom ; so teach us to use this 
world as not abusing it; and whether the summons 
come soon or late, suddenly or with warning, may we 
all be found prepared. Give comfort to the stricken 
heart and home from whence our brother has been 
called ; sustain and strengthen the afflicted survivors ; 
be very near to them, and say unto their souls, "I am 



2S0 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

thy salvation ! " Have us all in Thy holy keeping ; 
guide us by Thy counsel, and afterwards receive us to 
Thy Glory. Truly we have none in Heaven but Thee, 
and we desire none upon earth beside Thee. Our flesh 
and our heart faileth ! Be Thou, O our God, the 
strength of our heart ! Be Thou our portion forever. 
We humbly ask in Jesus' name, Amen. 

HYMN. 

Servant of God, well done ! 
Thy glorious warfare 's past ; 
The battle's fought, the race is won, 
And thou art crowned at last ; 

- Of all thy heart's desire 
Triumphantly possessed ; 
Lodged by the ministerial choir 
In thy Redeemer's breast. 

In condescending love, 
Thy ceaseless prayer He heard ; 
And bade thee suddenly remove 
To thy complete reward. 

With saints enthroned on high, 
Thou dost thy Lord proclaim, 
And still to God salvation cry, 
Salvation to the Lamb ! 

O happy, happy soul ! 

In ecstacies of praise, 

Long as eternal ages roll, 

Thou seest thy Savior's face. 

Redeemed from earth and pain, 
Ah ! when shall we ascend, 
And all in Jesus' presence reign 
With our translated friend ? 



Funeral Services at Franklin. 281 

The services in the church closed with the Benedic- 
tion, which was pronounced by Rev. Richard Craig- 
head. 

Large numbers wishing to take a last look at the 
beloved face, the opportunity was afforded them, and 
while this was proceeding the choir sang very softly 
and with sweet effect the following 

HYMN. 

There's a land that is fairer than day, 

And by faith we can see it afar ; 
For the Father waits over the way, 
To prepare us a dwelling place there. 
In the sweet by-and-by, 
We shall meet on that beautiful shore. 

We shall sing on that beautiful shore 

The melodious songs of the blest, 
And our spirits shall sorrow no more, 
Not a sigh for the blessing of rest. 
In the sweet by-and-by, 
We shall meet on that beautiful shore. 

To our bountiful Father above, 

We will offer our tribute of praie e, 
For the glorious gift of His love, 
And the blessings that hallow our days. 
In the sweet by-and-by, 
We shall meet on that beautiful shore. 



-—67&7^ / (^J^Rr~- 



II. 

MEMORIAL SERVICES AT FRANKLIN. 

On Wednesday evening, July 24th, 1889, the Ses- 
sion of the Presbyterian Church adopted the follow- 
ing paper : 

Whereas, God in his providence has been pleased 
to call to his reward Rev. S. J. M. Eaton, D. D., a 
former pastor of this church ; therefore, 

Resolved, I. That while humbly bowing to the 
Divine will, we would hereby record our deep sense of 
loss at his death, and our devout gratitude for the 
long, able, faithful, and successful service he rendered 
us ; our thankful recognition of the unchanging inter- 
est he felt in this church to the last, and the sincere 
love we cherish for him as a preacher, a pastor, and a 
Christian man. 

II. That the church, one of his monuments, be 
suitably draped, and that a Memorial Service be held 
on Sabbath, September 8th. 

III. That this action be spread upon our records, 
and a copy of the same be sent to Mrs. Eaton. 

Signed by the Clerk. 

In accordance with these resolutions, Memorial ser- 
vices were held in the church on the morning of Sab- 
bath, September 8th, 1889. 

Loving hearts and skillful hands had appropriately 
draped and adorned the church — the beauty and fra- 
grance of the choicest flowers contrasting with the 
emblems of mourning. 

In addition to fitting anthems, hymns 90, 335 and 
587 of the Hymnal were sung : 



Memorial Services at Franklin. 283 

"Oh, could I speak the matchless worth, 
Oh, could I sound the glorious forth, 
Which in my Savior shine !" &c 

14 My faith looks up to thee, 
Thou Lamb of Calvary, 
Savior Divine !" &c. 

"That though the arm of conqu'ring death 
Does God's own house invade ? 
That though the prophet and the priest 
Be numbered with the dead ?" &c. 

In the presence of a large and deeply interested 
congregation the following memorial sermon was 
preached by the pastor of the church, Rev. Jesse C. 
Bruce. 

MEMORIAL SERMON. 

IC Wisdom is justified of her children" — Matthew 
11: 19. 

Jesus speaks here of John the Baptist and himself, 
At the same time he announces a broad principle. 
Both John and himself were criticized by their gener- 
ation. John was blamed for going to an extreme in 
one direction, Jesus, in another. John's contemporar- 
ies condemned him for excessive austerity. His as- 
pect was so grotesque, his speech so uncourtly, his 
whole way so eccentric, that men were at a loss what 
to think of him. 

On the other hand Christ was condemned for being 
too much like other men. He mingled so freely with 
the masses, took so deep an interest in all their affairs, 
was so genial in his bearing toward all classes — that 
he was equally a mystery. 



284 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

To describe the fickle attitude of his day our Lord 
speaks this parable : u Whereunto shall I liken this 
generation? It is like unto children sitting in the 
markets, and calling unto their fellows, 

"And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye 
have not danced : we have mourned unto you, and ye 
have not lamented. 

"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and 
they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, 
a friend of publicans and sinners." 

"But wisdom is justified of her children." Doubt- 
less Christ had often stopped to watch the plays of the 
children. He had observed that they were hardly 
ever all of one mind. When one set proposed to be 
gay, and play at wedding, another set refused to take 
part or enjoy the sport. When the first piped the 
others would not dance. Determined, if possible, to 
please, they changed the play from a marriage to a 
funeral. Still they failed to please. When they 
mourned there were some who would not lament. 
John's eccentricity was condemned by a judgment 
even more eccentric. For being unable to estimate 
him aright they fell back on the hypothesis that he 
was possessed of a devil. 

Christ's adaptation to his surroundings they slan- 
derously described as gluttony and as eating and 
drinking riotously. 

John and Jesus were two types of character. Wis- 
dom was justified in both. God's wisdom in making 
them different — their wisdom in being what God 
meant them to be. 



Memorial Services at Franklin. 285 



John, though he came to introduce Jesus, was an 
Old Testament man. His people were great sinners 
hut they did not feel it. John had to handle their 
case without gloves. 

But to rn,ake his words of effect he must put his life 
behind them. And he did. Strip John of his auster- 
ity, his camel's hair and leathern girdle, and you rob 
him of his power. What he wore and what he ate were 
the outward form of righteousness. The whole was 
an object lesson for the people and indispensable. 

Except sin, Christ needed to be as much like other 
men as possible. He came to preach a gospel of 
grace, forgiveness, sympathy, helpfulness, purification. 
He must get hold of men. To do so he must go 
where men were, touch them in their actual life at as 
many points as possible. He must win their confi- 
dence, if he was to do them good. What fitness then 
in his open, genial bearing toward all ! 

Wisdom teaches that there is a moral order under- 
neath all things. That therefore no good purpose or 
act will fail at last. It will find its place. Hence 
wisdom exhorts men to live up to their best convic- 
tions. To follow where their best impulses lead them. 
To be true to their better self, and God will take care 
of results. 

Samuel J. M. Eaton was a child of wisdom. And 
in him wisdom was justified. He was appointed to a 
certain work, fitted with talents and opportunities for 
that work, and his finished life is its realization. 

I shall not speak of the details of Dr. Eaton's life. 
That has been done from this desk, from the platform 



2S6 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

to other and larger assemblies, and by the press. 
Nor shall I aim at a minute analysis of his character. 

I select a single point of view. One, however, 
which to my mind commands a wide outlook upon his 
life. Wisdom endowed the child Samuel with the 
historic spirit. 

Wisdom was justified of her child not only in his 
pious parentage, but also in the very place of his 
birth. He was born on the frontier. He grew up in 
the atmosphere of a new country. We might sup- 
pose wisdom had made a mistake here. That one de- 
stined to his work should have opened his eyes upon 
an old civilization where every object suggested a re- 
verence for the past. But not so. What preparation 
so fit for studying the past, for gathering its lessons, 
and catching its inspiration, as to be born just where a 
new history was beginning ? Life in such communi 
ties is simple. The true spirit of neighborhood is be- 
gotten out of mutual need. The noblest qualities of 
our nature are developed. In that same community 
Cvrus Dickson received his inspiration for the great 
work which he afterward did for his church and gen- 
eration. Samuel Eaton and he were as David and 
Jonathan. And in those early associations Samuel 
Eaton received his inspiration to write his masterpiece, 
The Memorial of Cvrus Dickson. 

At Jefferson College he was near the home of his 
maternal ancestors, in the institution where his father 
had received his training, and amid sacred memories 
still fresh of- MacMillan's labors. 



Memorial Services at Franklin. 28 y 

His preference was for the classics. In these he ex- 
celled. With such a strengthening and refining of 
his natural taste we might predict the character of his 
Seminary course. Speculative Theology was not to 
his liking. He delighted rather in the history of 
Redemption. 

His preparation finished he came here to his first 
and only pastorate. How appropriate and significant 
that he should be the immediate successor of Cyrus 
Dickson. 

Mt. Pleasant was for a time part of his charge, but 
his life-work was done here. This region was then 
undeveloped. Franklin was a mere village. This 
church was small and poor. He lived to see all 
changed, the community, the town, the church ; and 
of the better formative influences he contributed by 
far the largest share. 

Measured by visible results Dr. Eaton's long pas- 
torate of thirty-four years was successful. He receiv- 
ed seven hundred persons into membership. This re- 
presented a steady growth, although there were 
some notable revivals — particularly in 1867, when 
more than one hundred were received on confession of 
faith. 

Dr. Eaton was pre-eminently a faithful man in his 
work. He aimed at solid results. 

As a preacher he avoided all sensationalism. He 
expounded the Word, not in fragments but in its com- 
pleteness. His purpose was always practical. With 
his natural taste he made much of the Scriptures as 
history. He delighted in their biographies. He 



288 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

made historic events and persons real and fresh by a 
cultivated imagination. Instructive, practical, tender, 
earnest, describe him as a preacher. 

Dr. Eaton was well fitted for the pastorate. He 
was a genial man in company. He loved his people 
and took a deep interest in their welfare. His heart 
was big and tender. He was a prudent man. If un- 
avoidable he could hear gossip, but he never repeated 
it. The people gave him their confidence. They 
sought him as a counsellor. He was a man of peace. 
Back of the pastor and preacher as their greatest 
power was the character of Dr. Eaton. All men re- 
spected him. Parents could hold him up to their 
children as an example, for he was pre-eminently a 
good man. 

This house, in which three generations that have 
known and loved him gather to-day to do his memory 
honor, is his monument. For its erection he did more 
in various ways than any other man. As a token of 
your appreciation of that fact you have inscribed his 
name upon the cornerstone. Time will efface that. 
But other tablets more enduring than stone bear the 
name of Dr. Eaton. Godly character is imperishable. 

The fathers and mothers in Israel who welcomed 
him here as a young minister are, almost without ex- 
ception, now in glory. Of their children whom he 
received into the church and married, and who became 
his co-workers, many have gone to their reward. The 
children's children whom he baptized, some of whom 
he married, are mostly with us. These all received 



Memorial Services at Franklin. 289 

the impress of his words and life upon their hearts 
here, and they will keep it forever. 

But while serving this church with remarkable 
faithfulness he did other and valuable work. He taught 
this section to know and to appreciate its own history. 
As self-respect is indispensable to the individual, so is 
it to the nation and community. As a nation we have 
been passing through a series of centennial celebra- 
tions. How invaluable this revival of early memories ! 
How just and wholesome the pride thus created and 
stimulated ! 

Dr. Eaton made a study of the early annals of this 
community. He became familiar with the facts of its 
early settlements, tl^e habits of the people, the difficul- 
ties encountered, the social, educational, moral and 
industrial progress made, and the sterling virtues of 
its leading men and women. At various times he 
published the results of his study. The facts, interest- 
ing in themselves, were made doubly so by the attrac- 
tive form in which they were presented. In this he 
did a three-fold good : he wrote valuable local history, 
he created a widespread interest in it, he stimulated 
other minds to continue its study. 

What he did for this community and county he did 
more extensively for the Presbyterian Church in 
Northwestern Pennsylvania. The early annals of this 
section of the State are among the most valuable in 
the history of Home Missions. By natural bent, by* 
the circumstances of birth, by life-long association, fjy 
official position, Dr. Eaton was just the man for this 
work. A natural historian, the son of a pioneer min- 



2go S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

ister, spending his whole life upon this field, for the 
most of his ministry Stated Clerk of the old Synod of 
Erie, in love with the subject — he of all others was 
best qualified for the important task. In his book, 
The History of the Presbytery of Erie, published 
some years ago, with the Supplement published recent- 
ly, we have the facts concerning churches, ministers 
and elders preserved in permanent and attractive form. 

Two other publications exhibit the natural taste and 
acquirements of Dr. Eaton, and are contributions to 
the general subject of church history, — Lakeside and 
The Memorial to Dr. Dickson, the famous Secretary of 
the Home Board. Both do honor to Dr. Eaton's 
heart as well as head in a double sense. 

In Lakeside he draws a picture of the life of a pio- 
neer minister, and thus rears a beautiful memorial of 
filial affection to his father. In the Memorial to Dr. 
Dickson he reverses the order of ancient story, and out 
of Jonathan's heart he pours forth David's lament 
over the fall of the mighty. His theme was the 
Christian Soldier. In both he voices his deep 
affection for the cause of Missions in the nar- 
rower field called home, and in the broader field called 
country. 

Members of the Presbytery of Erie who were priv- 
ileged to be present will never forget the meeting in 
April, 1888, at Bradford. 

At the popular meeting in the interest of the Cen- 
tennial Fund for Ministerial Relief, Dr. Eaton by ap- 
pointment spoke upon the early ministers of Erie 
Presbytery. He seemed to be inspired for the occa- 



Memorial Services at Franklin. 2gi 

sion, and spoke with such a wealth of incident, such a 
play of humor, such a vividness of description, such a 
pathos and power of eloquence, that the whole audience 
was moved at times to laughter and tears. 

Dr. Eaton's historical gifts were called for in other 
matters. Some years ago he prepared the biographical 
catalogue of the Western Theological Seminary. Later 
the same for Washington and Jefferson College. These, 
especially the latter, involved immense labor. But 
he had read the last proof of the latter just before he 
died. 

It is hard to realize that he has gone. For us it 
seemed more expedient that he should remain. 

If it had been the Lord's will he would have been 
pleased to give his matured powers and ripened expe- 
rience in loving service here. But his work on earth 
was done. As for him " to live was Christ," so " to 
die was gain." 

Like Elijah he had a quick passage to glory. It is 
our privilege to think of him as enjoying the glad re- 
unions of heaven. He now beholds " the King in his 
beauty in the far off land." With his blessed Lord 
he sees of the travail of his soul and is being satisfied. 
And he waits in expectancy. Though he died in the 
faith, yet he saw not the fulness of the promise. 
Without us he is not perfect. Let us finish more ear- 
nestly the work he encouraged and helped us to do. 

In the light of such a life is not wisdom justified of 
her children ? 



III. 

MEMORIAL SERVICES AT CHAUTAUQUA. 

For seven or eight years Dr. Eaton had been inti- 
mately associated with the work at Chautauqua ; and 
up to the season of 1889, though modest and unas- 
suming, and filling a subordinate place in the working 
of that powerful religious and educational organiza- 
tion, his presence had come to be quite as much looked 
for, by the thousands of regular Chautauquans,as that 
of any one outside of the leading members of the 
Executive Board. He had a striking figure and face ; 
the tone of his voice was impressive ; what he did as 
instructor or lecturer was thoroughly well done ; in 
manner and bearing, in speech, in action, whether in 
public or in private, he was genuine through and 
through. 

The community of many thousands gathered at 
Chautauqua was therefore greatly moved, on the even- 
ing of July 16th when the news came of Dr. Eaton's 
sudden death, and expressions of sorrow were univer- 
sal. This was no mere sentiment, but a profound 
regret that one so useful, so beloved, so good and pure 
and true, had thus suddenly been taken away from the 
working force and from the delightful Christian circle 
of Chautauqua. 

A few weeks later, on August 18th, 1889, a 
Memorial Service was held in the Amphitheatre, which 
was completely filled. Dr. J. H. Vincent presided, 
and in opening the services said : 



Memorial Services at Chautauqua. 293 



u The central figure towards whom our thoughts in 
advance have turned ever since the Memorial Day was 
announced will now be presented by two or three 
speakers for a short time : Dr. S. J. M. Eaton, one of 
the most loyal and faithful of all our Chautauquans, 
with a record in advance of all the rest in several re- 
spects, a brother beloved. I have said two or three 
times to Dr. Eaton, ' the time must come when we 
shall speak of you, and it will be a sad time.' The 
time has come. I have asked President Miller to 
make a few remarks." 

Lewis Miller, Esq., said: " Some twenty-three 
years ago we made a picture in our own church of all 
the members of the congregation and Sunday school. 
That picture hangs on the wall to-day, and the eye in- 
variably, as you look at that picture, turns to those 
who have gone. They seem to be deeper upon the 
minds than those who are living. We make mental 
pictures of our departed friends that are still stronger 
than that picture on the wall. Chautauqua has made 
a picture, a mental picture, and as we look we are im- 
pressed with the character of those persons gone. We 
walk up and down these streets and look at the Audi- 
torium, the old one and the new. We look, and we 
see in our memory those who have gone. Ruskin says 
that 'in every picture that is a good one we can always 
see God in it. ? And I think in these pictures we have 
made, we see in them God more than anything else. 
It is not these decorations we have made at various 
times when they were laid by ; but it is what the per- 
sons were, and what they did. I now remember a few 



2Q4 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

of those when I was small enough to be taken upon 
the lap and held ; the impress that Mother Rothrock 
made upon my heart when but a child; the God-like 
power in that picture is still vivid to-day. The char- 
acters made upon my mind and the picture that was 
formed there remain. I never think back without 
looking at those pictures so vividly made on my mind. 
I see those pictures; — how beautiful some of them are. 
But we see them in acts, what they did, and the real 
character of those persons. Some of them we see in 
these houses. But we do not see them in the houses; 
we see the impress of the mmd and character and 
the feeling they had, the anxiety they had to produce 
their very best effect ; we see their character impressed. 
So I come back and see them in the trees, — these trees 
clipped off at the top. I have here a picture fixed, 
and I see the care, the interest unusual that the man 
who clipped all these trees had in producing the very 
best effect. And I say, his character is that way. And 
so we come down through all these characters, — that 
of song, and these Talks we have heard, and study 
the different characters. We come down to our friend, 
Dr. Eaton. 

"Anybody that knew Dr. Eaton does not see him in 
the beautiful flowers: I read to-day of the beautiful 
decorations, the beautiful momentoes that were sent in 
to be put at the side of the coffin. But we see him 
here (pointing to where he usually sat). We see him 
down in Palestine Park. We see him at the Jerusa- 
lem Model. We see him down at his cottage, when 
he would say, ( Step in, I want to talk to you.' And 



Memorial Services at Chautatiqua. 2Q5 

he had some suggestion to make for the betterment of 
Chautauqua and what was in the work, not because of 
Chautauqua, but because of the possibilities of Chau- 
tauqua, to build better and greater. And so men's 
characters grow, and those pictures. We see God in 
that way, and that is the way I see Dr. Eaton to-day. 
And his character is impressed upon my mind by his 
calmness, his deliberate and considerate thought, and 
the deep, underlying interest that he had in this great 
work. O how it shines ! Let it shine on forever ! " 

Bishop Vincent said : " Dr. Samuel John Mills 
Eaton was born in Fairview, Erie Co., Pa., April 15th, 
1820. His ancestors had lived in the state for two 
hundred years. He was of good stock. His ances- 
tors were men and women who feared God and loved 
men. His father was the Rev. Johnston Eaton, who 
was graduated at Jefferson College, and came to Erie 
county as a Presbyterian minister in 1806, and preached 
there for forty-one years. Dr. Eaton himself began 
his educational career in the old Erie Academy in Erie, 
Pa. He entered Jefferson College in 1842, and was 
graduated in 1845. He took his Theological course in 
the Western Theological Seminary, of Allegheny ; he 
was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Erie, 
March 16, 1848. On the 16th of April, 1848, he be- 
gan his ministerial career in Franklin, Pa., where he 
remained as pastor for thirty-three years. 

u His death was sudden. He had been for some time 
a great sufferer, and he knew that his end was near ; 
but at the last he went very suddenly. He had writ- 
ten to me expressing his regret that he would not be 



2g6 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

able to be at Chautauqua this year. I had replied to 
him expressing the hope that he might after all be able 
to come, and giving expression to the warm affection 
of my heart for him. He was walking on the street 
on the afternoon of his death. He was seen to throw 
up his hands suddenly, and then to fall. Having 
been borne to his house he lay for some little time in 
partial consciousness, recognizing his dear wife, which 
was a great source of comfort to her, and then enter- 
ing upon sleep, the sleep of the just, the sleep which 
is * in Jesus/ 

'Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep.' 
"Dr. Eaton was a good man. He was a good man 
in Christ Jesus; and a good minister. He was a 
sound expounder of the Holy Scriptures. He loved 
his people and his people loved him. He was amiable, 
faithful, consecrated, earnest, practical. Years ago he 
came to Chautauqua, I think perhaps the first year of 
Chautauqua. Some one said to me that when he did 
come at first he had a little of the old prejudice that 
almost everybody had against the Chautauqua Move- 
ment because it was a new movement; but very soon 
his prejudice melted, and one, to hear him talk about 
it even in the early years, would never have suspected 
that he had ever looked upon the movement except 
with the intensity of enthusiasm and with the largest 
faith. He was our foremost member of the i C. L. S- 
C. 9 When, in 1882, at the close of the first four C. 
L. S. C. years, we were experimenting on our Form of 
Recognition, I stood in the Hall of Philosophy, look- 
ing down towards the Golden Gate through the Arches, 



Memorial Services at Chautauqua. 297 

as the Messenger opened the Gate for the admission of 
the { graduates/ and I saw the '82s beginning to file 
in. Eight hundred of that class were present that day. 
And the first two who came marching up under the 
Arches were Dr. Eaton and Dr. Hurlbut, arm in arm. 
I said to myself when I saw those two men walking 
steadily up the hill while the * Choir of the Hall in 
the Grove } sang 

l Sing peans over the past,' 
1 if we have the indorsement of such men as these 
we shall be able to carry through this work/ I gave 
Dr. Eaton his diploma with my own hands. He said, 
1 I have had two diplomas before this, but I prize 
this more than the others/ This was my first thor- 
ough acquaintance with Dr. Eaton. I knew he had 
been a pastor for about thirty years of a Presbyterian 
church, educated in a Presbyterian College, and in a 
Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and I knew enough 
about his antecedents to know what a guarantee that 
was of soundness and thoroughness on his intellectual 
side, and I said : c If we can have his endorsement, 
and kind words from a man like him, this movement 
will receive great impetus/ 

"One day, taking him aside, I said, ' Dr. Eaton, I 
want you to give me your reasons for coming into the 
C. L. S. C. as you have done/ He answered : 'There 
are four reasons. In the first place, it is a long time 
since I left College, — forty years ago, — and I wanted 
to review the College world. Your C. L. S. C. in- 
cludes everything in its reading that a College student 
sees in going through College/ (Of course he well 



2g8 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

understood, as we all do, that in the College one gets 
mental discipline through the study of language and 
mathematics); '.but the College outlook we get in your 
course of reading. This outlook I wanted to take 
again, and in your course I can do that. Secondly, it 
is a long time since I have studied science, and science 
has changed so much. I wanted to read its last word 
and get hold of it without too much effort. Your 
course gives that. Thirdly, I have a great many 
young people in my congregation who need to be 
brought to a higher plane of thought, to live less friv- 
olous lives, to delight in the best literature. I want 
to set them an example. Fourthly, There are a great 
many older people, men and women, middle-aged 
people in my church, who ought to read more than 
they do, and a better class of literature. I want to in- 
terest them, and give an example by doing it myself/ 
And he did it. 

" Dr. Eaton always had for true Chautauquans a 
warm shake of the hand, and always a pleasant smile. 
If there were any struggles to be gone through, S. J. 
M. Eaton stood on the side of the Assembly. If in 
his thought there were words of suggestion needed, 
he would offer wise suggestions, and leave them with 
the authorities. He was a warm, tender, faithful 
friend. I am glad to speak this tribute to the memory 
of the man, since he must leave us. After all he has 
not left us. He is with us by example and spirit. 
May the spirit of the same Master whom he served 
rest upon all of us ! 



Memorial Services at Chautauqua. 299 

"Our C. L. S. C. diploma, as all Chautauquans know, 
has blank spaces for seals to be added after people 
have taken the first course. Dr. Eaton soon added ten 
seals to his diploma, then seven more, and then three 
more in a very short time. Before long he had added 
twenty more ; and in the course of the years he added 
seals until all spaces for seals on his Diploma were 
filled up. His Diploma will show sixty-five seals for 
special courses in addition to his regular course. He 
stood the very highest in our Circle, a member of the 
* Society of the Hall in the Grove,' of the ' Order of 
the White Seal/ of the i League of the Round Table/ 
the ' Guild of the Seven Seals/ and was in the fourth 
or fifth Degree of that Guild. Can you wonder that 
Chautauquans loved him so tenderly, and have such 
delight in his memory as a loyal representative of our 
work ? 

" Here is a letter he wrote to a lady at Chautauqua a 
few days before his death. This, of course, is a per- 
sonal letter, and he never dreamed that it would be 
read ; but there is so much of his spirit in it, and so 
much of the thought and tone and triumph of the 
Gospel in it, that I will venture in this public place to 
read it : 

' Franklin, Pa., July 13, 1889. 
1 My Very Dear Friend : 

1 Iwas rejoiced to receive your letter last evening. I 
thank you very much for your kindness, also for the 
kind thoughts that inspired them. If Chautauqua 
had done nothing more for us than bringing together 



300 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

, choice friends, and opening our hearts to each other, 
it would have been a grand institution. For here we 
formed and cemented friendships that are not to be 
measured by time, but that are to reach out all through 
the eternal years of God. 

* We cannot doubt but that in the grand re- union in 
heaven, friends that loved and respected each other on 
earth will be re-united in heaven. And there is this 
sweet thought, that this re-union will never break up. 
And what joys seem to reveal themselves as we think 
of the coming glory ! We shall see Jesus, the well 
beloved of our souls, see him with his pierced hands, 
see him as he is, the Prince of the Kings 
of the earth, yet our Elder Brother ! Then we 
shall sit at his feet and learn — O what lessons of 
beauty and wisdom and love ! Then we shall see the 
loved and glorified of all the ages, and with them talk 
of Jesus and his love, and of the great mystery of 
Godliness, ' God manifest in the flesh/ and learn of 
the way of salvation, as the angels never can. ' It 
doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know 
that when he shall appear we shall be like Him, for 
we shall see him as he is.' 

' That Home of love, away above the stars — away 
above the utmost bounds of the Everlasting Hills, 
how lovely it will be, Our Father's House, our ever- 
lasting Home, and we of the family of God, that the 
world knows not, what a prospect there lies before us, 
if we belong to Jesus ! And we do belong to him, for 
he has purchased us with his own precious blood. 



Memorial Services at Chautauqua, joi 



I It grfeves me very much to be absent from Chau- 
tauqua this year. But the Lord knows best. I think 
I miss you all more than you can miss my presence. 
I have been long ill, but time has passed and the Lord 
has helped me to bear the pain and the watching. It 
may yet be long before I am relieved from this afflic- 
tion, but the same help will be afforded. I feel this 
and am comforted. So may we all feel the comfort of 
the Lord's words — 'As thy day, so shall thy strength 
be.' 

I I am so glad ' Pioneer Hall ' is now in the posses- 
sion of the Pioneers. I wish the brethren and sisters 
of the Class would take such interest in it as to assist 
in fixing it up nicely. But they are not there, and it 
is hard to get up an interest with absentees. I think 
Mrs. Vincent, the President, has some things promised 
that will help to improve it. I could wish I were 
there, but this would be of no use. I can say truly — 
1 The will of the Lord be done.' 

' I wish to be remembered to all my friends at Chau- 
tauqua, also to Mr. John C, who is not there. I re- 
gret my constrained absence not only on account of 
friends, but on account of my work at Jerusalem.' 
[Strangers will remember our beautiful model of Jer- 
usalem, which he seemed to delight in after its refitting 
by Dr. Wythe, and where he spent, as he says, so many 
happy hours.] 1 1 did so love and enjoy that work 
that it grieves me to be without it. When you pass 
Jerusalem, remember the lecturer who spent so many 
happy hours there. The people always seemed so 
eager to hear that it was delightful to talk to them. 



302 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

— « 

'And now I must draw this long letter to" a close. 

' I hope we may meet again upon earth ; if not, I 
know we shall in the Land of the Beautiful, where 
there will be enjoyment above our utmost dreams 
here, and where the day will not fear the coming on of 
night, perfect peace and perfect love in the House of 
our Father. 

1 Mrs. Eaton sends love to you and to all our friends 
as I do. The Lord bless you and give you peace al- 
ways. Most affectionately, 

Your friend, 

S. J. M. Eaton/ 

" I call that a charming letter, full of the gospel, full 
of the fruitage of faith, and love, and hope. I hold 
in my hand a copy of the last book which he edited 
and revised, — The Catalogue of Washington and Jef- 
ferson College, and on the last page is a letter from 
Rev. John M. Barnett, stating the fact that the compiler, 
the editor of the book, had ended his course. Let me 
read a few words from this letter. It is addressed to 
the Publishers of the Book: ' On Tuesday, July 
16th, you mailed the last proof of this book to Rev. 
Dr. Eaton. You wrote at the close, 'The book is fin- 
ished/ It is with sincere sorrow that I write to say to 
you, and to all to whom this book will come, that on 

that day his earthly life was finished 

Intimately associated with him in this work for nearly 
three years, I can bear testimony to his eminent fitness 
for it. He was patient and persistent in seeking to 
rescue from oblivion the Graduates of the College, and 
his enjoyment was very great when facts were found 



Memorial So'vices at Chautauqua. JOJ 

for which he had searched long His 

was a beautiful and useful and busy life, pure and con- 
secrated. All who had correspondence or dealings 
with him can join heartily with you in saying they 
have been very pleasant indeed, and will not soon be 
forgotten/ 

" This then is our farewell tribute. May God bless 
his spirit, his life, and his example to the spiritual 
welfare of all Chautauquans ! It is time for us now 
to close this service, but before we sing the last hymn, 
I want a word from Dr. B. M. Adams." 

Dr. Adams said : " I did not know of Dr. Eaton's 
death until my arrival here. Among the first inquir- 
ies I made here was, is Dr. Eaton here? And the 
brother of whom I made the inquiry said, he is dead. 
I felt a sense of personal bereavment in his death. 
Among the choice and beautiful letters that were sent 
to me last August and September, in the hour of my 
sore trial, one of the sweetest and best was from Dr. 
Eaton. How tenderly, how sweetly, he did talk to 
me; and I longed to see him. And it seems to me 
now as though, looking off here (pointing to the left,) 
I could see him with a Scotch cap on his head, that 
benign smile on his face, and hear the sweet words 
spoken to us. He was very closely identified with the 
Morning Devotional hour, and was one of its earnest 
and constant supporters. Yes, we lose him not whol- 
ly, for he lives in our thought and deed as truly as in 
the heavens. He is gone. He is with us yet. My 
heart has been cheered and comforted to-day as I have 



304 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



thought of what he was to us, to me, and what a joy 
I shall have one day in meeting him again. 
"As sings the Poet : 

'Our meeting time, the eternal day ; 

Our meeting place, the eternal throne ; 
Thus, hand in hand, firm-linked at last, 

And heart to heart, united all, 
We'll smile upon our troubled past 

And wonder why we wept at all.' " 

Bishop Vincent said : Let us unite in singing 
Hymn 306, of the Epworth Hymnal : 

"The morning flowers display their sweets," &c. 

Rev. Mr. Radcliffe pronounced the benediction : 
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of 
the Father, the communion and indwelling of the 
Holy Spirit be with us and God's Israel henceforth 
and forever. Amen. 



■— ^6rS v 3^^ r ^ 



IV. 
PRESBYTERIAL MEMORIAL SERVICES. 

During the Sessions of the Presbytery of Erie in 
Cambridgeboro, in September, 1889, a combined Me- 
morial Service was held on Wednesday evening (Sep- 
tember 11), in behalf of Rev. Dr. Eaton and Rev. G. 
W. Zahnizer, both of whom had died since the last 
stated meeting of the Presbytery. Rev. James G. 
Patterson, D. D., the Moderator of the Presbytery, 
conducted the services. 

The following passages of Scripture were read by 
the Rev. Amzi Wilson : 

u I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice 
and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his 
ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as 
I live Gracious is the Lord, and righ- 
teous ; yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth 
the simple. I was brought low and he helped me. . 

11 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his ben- 
efits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and 
call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows 
unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. 

" Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of 
his saints."— Ps. 116: 1-15. 

" If we believe that Jesus died aud rose again, even 
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with 
Him .... The Lord himself shall descend 
from heaven w 7 ith a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in 



30 6 S. y. M. Eaton, D. D. 

• — — i 

Christ shall rise first : Then we which are alive and 
remain shall be caught up together with them in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we 
ever be with the Lord."— 1 Thess. 4: 13-17. 

" Here is the patience of the saints : here are they 
that keep the commandments of God, and. the faith of 
Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto 
me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the 
Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that 
they may rest from their labours; and their works do 
follow them."— Rev. 14: 12, 13. 

After prayer by the Rev. Wm. Grassie, and the 
singing of an appropriate hymn, the Rev. J. C. Bruce, 
pastor of the Church of Franklin, read a paper which 
he had prepared relating to Dr. Eaton. This paper 
was subsequently adopted by the Presbytery, and a 
copy directed to be sent to the family of Dr. Eaton. 
In connection with his reading of the paper, Mr. 
Bruce spoke at some length upon the life, labors, and 
character of Dr. Eaton, especially enlarging upon the 
historical taste and faculty which he had shown, both 
as preacher and writer, throughout life. 



Following is a copy of the paper adopted by the 
Presbytery and put upon their Records : 

Samuel John Mills Eaton was born at Fairview, 
Erie Co., Penn'a, April 15th, 1820. His father was 
the Rev. Johnston Eaton, one of the pioneers of North 
Western Pennsylvania. His mother's name was Eliza 
Canon. Her family founded Canonsburg, Pa., the seat 
of Jefferson College. 



Presbyterial Memorial Services. joy 

Samuel grew up on his father's farm, and was pre- 
pared for college partly at home and partly at an 
Academy in Erie. He entered the Sophomore class at 
Jefferson College in 1842 and graduated in 1845. He 
was fond of the Classics and of English literature, par- 
ticularly historic, and was esteemed the finest essayist 
of his class. 

Having chosen the Ministry, he spent three years at 
the Western Theological Seminary. He was licensed 
by the Presbytery of Erie in 1848, and ordained by 
that body the same year. 

In 1848 he was called to the churches of Franklin 
and Mt. Pleasant to succeed Rev. Cyrus Dickson. 

November 5th, 1850, he was married to Miss Clara 
T. Howe, who still survives. 

In 1855 he gave up Mt. Pleasant to devote his whole 
time to Franklin. 

This, his only pastorate, continued thirty-four 
years until February, 1882. 

When he began his work at Franklin that church 
had seventy- four members. When he resigned the 
last name on the roll was numbered 772. 

Several notable revivals had occurred. Particularly 
in the year 1867, when one hundred and eleven 
persons were added on examination. 

In 1869 Washington and Jefferson College gave him 
the title of Doctor of Divinity. 

In 1871 he visited Europe and the Orient, devoting 
himself particularly to the study of the Holy Land. 
The result of his observations he afterwards published 
under the titles of u Jerusalem " and " Palestine." 



308 S. y. M. Eaton, D. D. 

He was elected Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of 
Erie in 1853, and held the position until his death. 
He was also Stated Clerk of the old Synod of Erie 
for many years. 

For a long time Dr. Eaton had been a member of 
the Board of Trustees of Washington and Jefferson 
College, and of the Board of Directors of the Western 
Theological Seminary. 

In 1884 he was appointed by the General Assembly 
Chairman of a Committee to investigate the workings 
of the Board of Publication. His final and very val- 
uable report was made to the Assembly in 1886 

Dr. Eaton was identified with the Chautauqua 
movement from the beginning. At his death he held 
the largest number of seals for courses of study mas- 
tered of any other Chautauquan. He was also from 
its start lecturer at Chautauqua upon Palestine and 
Jerusalem. Dr. Eaton was an author. He wrote a 
u History of Petroleum," a " History of the Presby- 
tery of Erie," " Lakeside," " Ecclesiastical History of 
Centennial Missionary Work," " Memorial of Dr. 
Cyrus Dickson," "Jerusalem" and "Palestine," " Chap- 
ters in the History of Venango County, Penn'a," 
" Biographical Catalogues of the Western Theological 
Seminary and of Washington and Jefferson College." 

Dr. Eaton died suddenly at his home in Franklin 
July 16th, 1889. 

It would be difficult to overestimate the character 
and work of Dr. Eaton. He was pre-eminently a 
manly man and a noble Christian. 



Presbyterial Memorial Services. jog 



Simplicity, purity, gentleness, kindliness, humility, 
devoteduess, loyalty to truth and duty, characterized 
him. 

An ardent Presbyterian, he was yet as broad as 
Christianity. 

As a preacher, as a Pastor, as a Presbyter, he proved 
himself " a good minister of Jesus Christ." 

The Presbytery looked to him for direction, the 
churches for counsel, the younger ministers for encour- 
agement. Civil society and the Church in this part 
of Pennsylvania owe him a debt beyond reckoning. 

Identified so long and so thoroughly with the Pres- 
bytery of Erie his loss to us is almost irreparable. 






Several of the brethren spoke in brief but earnest 
and affectionate words of Dr. Eaton, of his high char- 
acter, his great services to the church, and of his loss 
to the councils of the Presbytery. Among others 
Rev. Solon Cobb, of Erie, uttered a fitting eulogy 
upon him who had so long been among the Fathers of 
the Presbytery, and who by his writings of an histor- 
ical character and by his official services had made 
himself a name and a fame in the Presbyterianism of 
Western Pennsylvania that will not soon be forgotten. 

Rev. Mr. Wilson, of Springfield, spoke of Dr. 
Eaton's financial ability — more especially, he said, 
11 Because it is a point where ministers generally are 
supposed to be weak/'" He instanced his correspon- 
dence with the gentleman who was the co-executor 
with Mrs. Eaton of Dr. Eaton's estate — a gentleman 
of great business carefulness and accuracy, — who "bore 



3io S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

high testimony to Dr. Eaton's habits of order, and his 
rare financial sagacity in placing his investments. 

" I must also/' proceeded Mr. Wilson, " bear testi- 
mony to Dr. Eaton's great courtesy and cordiality 
under circumstances which might well have developed 
a little friction. As Permanent Clerk I was closely 
associated with him in his capacity of Stated Clerk for 
some considerable time ; yet we were always on the 
best of terms. Never did he evince the slightest jeal- 
ousy on account of any supposed infringement of his 
prerogatives. 

" One trait more of his character and deportment 
deserves special attention and emulation on the part of 
us younger ministers — a quality enjoined by Paul up- 
on Timothy. I mean his dignity and gravity. In 
this Dr. Eaton set such an example as became the 
minister. While he himself had abundance of wit, 
and keenly appreciated a joke, he never seemed to be 
light or trifling. I do not remember ever, in all my 
association with him, to have observed him even once 
conduct himself with a levity unseemly in a minister of 
the Gospel. He seemed always to remember the dignity 
which comported with his high calling. Yet he was 
not stilted, nor severe, but gentle and easily approached. 
In this feature of his character he set us a pattern wor- 
thy of our diligent imitation." 



V. 

LETTERS OF SYMPATHY. 

"Bear ye one another's burdens." 

The sudden death of Dr. Eaton, apparently in the 
midst of his years and of his strength, produced a 
spontaneous burst of sorrow and regret over the loss of 
a Christian minister so useful and so beloved. But 
beside the public demonstrations, and the more formal 
funeral and memorial services, this feeling took the 
form of letters of sympathy to the stricken and be- 
reaved wife, who, when slow weeks and months should 
have dragged by, and the public expressions of grief 
become a mere matter of record, would still feel the 
keenness of the severing stroke that separated her 
from the husband of her youth and the comfort and 
stay of her advancing years. The expressions of 
sympathy in these letters were and will continue to be 
exceedingly grateful to the bruised heart. " Bear ye 
one another's burdens " is the Christian law of love 
and sympathy, and only those who have passed through 
the deep waters know how helpful is the word of a 
friend who, you are assured, is thinking of you and 
sorrowing with you. 

Many such friends remembered Mrs. Eaton in her 
hour of affliction ; and the messages they sent to her 
are well worthy of record in this Memorial of him 
whose life was given to the preaching of the divine 
Gospel of consolation and hope. She knew where to 



312 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

go for comfort ; but the kind and suggestive words of 
her friends served as rounds to her ladder of Faith, by 
which she might climb nearer to Him who is the only- 
sure source of comfort to the sorrowing. It is perhaps 
best that these should be given without indicating the 
source from which they came. 

July 19, 1889. 

" i Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord/ I 
cannot realize that dear Mr. Eaton has passed away 
from us all ; for although distance separates us, we 
still thought of you both as ours — our dear pastor, our 
good example, our spiritual adviser, always willing 
and glad to help and comfort in sorrow, or rejoice with 
us in prosperity. God has taken him from us all and 
from you his faithful and beloved wife ; but the time 
will be short before the summons will come, and he 
will be there to welcome you. God only can sustain 
and comfort. You know it so well. Our love and 
sympathy are yours ; and my prayer is for you in this 
great sorrow." 

July 17th, 1889. 

" For some time we have all been anxious about 
your dear good husband, but the suddenness of his 
death startled me. I cannot yet realize it, and how 
greatly I will miss him! You will never know how 
much he was to our family. We looked on him as 
the one we could always trust, and get consolation and 
sympathy from. How universally and sincerely he 
will be mourned, and especially by our family — who, 
had we been relatives, could not have thought more of 
our always true, good and noble friend and pastor." 



Letters of Sympathy. JJ J 

July 22, 1889. 

11 I cannot yet realize that Dr. Eaton is gone, and 
that you are all alone. I know enough of the utter 
emptiness of this world, when one's best beloved can 
never return, to feel how little the sympathy of friends 
can help in time of sore bereavement, and to shrink 
from trying to comfort you in that trial. And yet I 
want to tell you that we do not cease to commend you 
to God and the ' wqrd of His grace,' knowing that He 
can bind up the bleeding heart, and even enable you 
to feel the love which we know is in all his dealings 
with us. May He sustain you, so that you may glor- 
ify Him even in the fire of tribulation, 

" We shall miss Dr. Eaton as we do few other 
friends, and far more than we should have done had 
he been taken away ten years ago. I was and am 
grateful that our Heavenly Father allowed the com- 
panionship in Baltimore and Philadelphia ; and 
especially the visit last September to your home. I 
enjoyed seeing him so happy in his study, among his 
treasures, and did not wonder that he was disinclined 
to leave them, much as we would have enjoyed having 
you in Philadelphia last winter. It must be sweet 
for you to remember that he was surrounded by the 
comforts of his own home, that he passed away in 
Franklin where his life-work was done, and that you 
were with him. 

" Dear Mrs. Eaton, you may in time be thankful 
that it was he who went first, and was not left to feel 
the desolation you will experience more and more as 



314 S 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

the years go on. How blessed it is to remember that 

all our lives, — events, times, and circumstances — are 

arranged from eternity by the infinite love and wisdom 

of God ; so that nothing 'happens? but all * comes to 

pass' in accordance with his perfect plan. This trust 

is my rock of rest, my sure refuge in time of trial. 

You remember the lines, 

1 God never does, nor suffers to be done, 

But that which you would do, if you could see 
The end of all events as clear as He.' 

" The sweet memories of your married life will be a 
consolation, as you live over 4 the days that are no 
more 7 ; but greater will be the hope of the re-union, 
which he so often and so beautifully expressed. 

" Asking again blessing for you from the Savior 
who ' knows our frame and remembers that we are 
dust/ I am, dear Mrs. Eaton, 

Your loving friend/ 7 

July 26th, 188& 

"The suddenness with which your great sorrow 
came seems to add to its intensity; and yet after all 
how much of alleviation it brought. It was not death 
preceded by the wastings and weariness and pains of 
disease. It was translation — translation in the pre- 
sence of friends who stood around and looked after 
him as he ascended. The sorrow of being from home 
among strangers which came to our dear friend Mrs. 
T. last summer you were spared. 

" You weep not alone. A large circle of loving 
friends stood by your side around the open gtave, 



Letters of Sympathy. 315 

when Dr. Eaton was carried to his burial. Another 
link which bound them to the earth was broken, and 
another added to the l great cloud of witnesses' look- 
ing down on them. His works do follow him, and 
his memory will ever be cherished by hearts that 
loved him well. He has left a name without re- 
proach, a life without a stain, a record which places 
him among those whom all delight to honor. 

" l Servant of God, well done !' The farewell of 
earth has already become the welcome of Heaven. 
His work is done, and well done, and for you and me 
it now remains to follow him even as he followed 
Christ. The meeting in the Home above, how soon 
it will come !" 

July 20th, 1889. 

11 Human words are so useless 

in such a time. What we need is the divine, sweet 
comforting. What a pleasant thing for you to look 
back upon is the helpful, useful life of the dear one 
gone before you. From my childhood up I remem- 
ber so many pleasant, happy days he has given me in 
his own home and mine." 

July 26th, 1889. 

" Dr. Eaton seemed 

one of us, and the world is the poorer now that we 
know that never again are we to feel the warm pres- 
sure of his hand and hear his words of kindly greet- 
ing. A good man and a true has gone hence, but his 
work here was done, and doubtless a better and fuller 
life and work were ready for him on the other side. 
You know that we are under the 



j/6 S. 7. M. Eaton, D. D. 

shadow of a coming sorrow. I fear that my sister 
will not be with us long. She speaks of you — feels 
deeply for you ; and she sends you her tenderest love. 
I am with much sympathy and love your sincere 
friend." 

August 1, 1889. 

{From a Syrian lady.) "I wanted to express my 
sympathy and show my feelings that your sorrow has 
been felt by a great many ; and that what dear Mr. 
Eaton has sown in this life, and the work he has done 
for his Master has touched a great many; and the 
cheering words and kind deeds that he has done even 
to the poor weak writer that he has already heard of 
the Master of the world whom he is beholding in 
His glory. — 'Well done, good and faithful servant!' 
When we look to such a life that labored under the 
hope of eternity, we cannot say but the Scripture 
words: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord ; 
for they shall rest from their labors, and their deeds 
shall follow them." 

August 13th, 1889. 

11 1 have delayed a little after the severity of the 
blow which has fallen upon you would be less fresh 
and painful, to say to you how sincerely and deeply I 
sympathize with you in the removal of a husband 
who was so wise and loving and faithful and good. 
Yet how much there is in the memory of such a man, 
and christian, and preacher, and writer, and honored 
member of society, to cherish with tenderest and de- 
voutest gratitude to God. 



Letters of Sympathy. jiy 

11 Ordinary men of wealth and situation in the eyes 
of the world are loudly lamented when they die. But 
such a man as your husband gathered riches and 
honors far beyond those of the world, for which the 
people of God will remember him through generations 
to come on earth, and which are i durable' when 
the world and all there is therein shall pass away. 

U I do not write these as unmeaning words; few men 
in the ministry with whom I had personal acquaint- 
ance possessed more of my heartfelt regard and affec- ' 
tion than Dr. Eaton. His * works 7 will be followed 
with blessing to many souls on earth, and 'do follow 
him 7 to enrich him and you in heaven. 

"We cannot mourn the translation of such a son of 
God to his father's house and the mansion prepared 
for him on high. We can only i wait' and do all we 
can to ' finish ' what the dear Saviour and Lord 
would have us do for his cause." 

July 17, 1889. 

" He was very near and dear to me, the best friend 
I had in the world outside of my own family. 

11 1 received a letter from my dear friend, and in it he 
spoke of his illness. It was the first time that I felt 
impressed that the trouble might be something serious. 
After mentioning it he said : ' But the Lord's will be 
done. All is right.' " 

July 24, 1880. 

" I heard of the death of your husband, our friend, 
very soon after it occurred, and in common with a 
great host of people felt the sadness of it. He was 
known so well, not only by the Presbyters, but by so 



j/8 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

many people throughout this part of the State and 
elsewhere, that a host mourns his departure. i Prec- 
ious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his 
saints.' How we shall miss him at Presbytery. He 
was always there. There have been but two or three 
men longer in Presbytery than he ; but he was the 
longest in the body of those who habitually attended 
its meetings." 

July 22, 1889. 
"To say nothing of the great loss. to the church at 
large, and to the many ministers by whom Dr. Eaton 
was loved and honored, the stroke is a hard one in- 
deed to every member of Erie Presbytery." 

Aug. 3, 1889. 
" Brother Eaton will be much missed. He will be 
missed in Franklin which was his home for so many 
years, and in the church of which he was Pastor 
and in which he did such good work. He will be 
greatly missed by the Presbytery of Erie, and by the 
church at large. His work in the church and in va- 
rious other ways will long live. I feel that I have 
lost a friend. I shall ever remember his kindness to 
me when a Pastor in the churches of that Presbytery. 
He was not only a brother of about the same age in 
the ministry, but a counselor and adviser." 

July 17, 1889. 

" It was with pain I read of the sudden death of 

your husband. In his case the old saying became very 

true, — sudden death sudden glory. Franklin has lost 

one of its most influential members. His name will 



L e iters of S) mpa thy. j/p 

be honored, and his pure unsullied life will be remem- 
bered with gratitude to God. His work is done and 
he is at rest. He did his work well indeed, he died in 
the harness." 

July 16, 1889. 
(i My heart ached for you to-night. It is so hard to 
be left behind. But you have another treasure in 
heaven. I have lost a dear friend, one whom I prized 
and who has done me good. Yet I rejoice in the 
midst of my sorrow that he is beyond the trials of life 
— one of the redeemed around the throne." 

July 22, 1889. 
" I have been intimately associated with your dear 
husband in personal intercourse, in the Courts of the 
church, in Seminary and College, Boards, and other 
ways, only to find him a wise and true hearted Chris- 
tian gentleman and a faithful keeper of the trusts 
committed to him from his Master's hand. In the 
whole range of these public duties he will be greatly 
missed, and his place will not be easily filled." 

July 25, 1889. 
11 1 was so shocked and surprised to read of Dr. 
Eaton's sudden death in the paper that reached me 
this morning. I am very sorry — not for him, because 
his work is done and he has no doubt heard the ' Well 
done ' of his Lord ; and to go so quickly from the 
labor of earth to the reward in Heaven, must be a joy- 
ous privilege. It is for you I am sorry, because so 
much of the light has gone out of your dwelling and 
heart. Sorry for the world, too, because a laborer in 



320 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



the great vineyard has gone, and to our short-sighted 
vision it seems that all such are needed. I have lost 
a friend whom I hoped to meet again ; but now our 
meeting is reserved for the ' other side/ It is forty- 
seven years, I think, since I made his acquaintance in 
Erie; but I have many pleasant memories of that 
summer/' 

Aug. 5, 1889. 

" Dr. Eaton was a good man. I stood a moment 
to catch the import of a voice from his room in Old 
Fort Balentine, in 1842, till I found it was the voice of 
secret prayer. He was alone on Sabbath evening, and 
to this day I remember a passage on his lips: 'I 
will never, never leave nor forsake thee/ He repeated 
the ' never' as it is in the original. O yes he was so 
kind and good and forbearing with his friends. I was 
always astonished that he kept his occasional manifes- 
tations of friendship for one friend in the far south. 
There was not another more convincing proof of his 
goodness of heart than this last, as that friendship had 
to overleap many infirmities to reach its object, I 
loved Dr. Eaton." 

July 20, 1889. 

" This bereavement comes near to me personally, 
for your husband was one of my first friends in the 
ministry, and always a friend. I love him as a co- 
Presbyter and as a personal friend, and can scarcely 
realize that I shall meet him no more. But I know 
he has a glorious reward. He was a ' good and faith- 
ful servant/ and be has entered into the joys of our 
Lord/' 



Letters of Sympathy. J2i 

July 20, 1889, 
"It has been my privilege to know Dr. Eaton ever 
since 1 have been a member of Erie Presbytery, and 
our relations have always been the most pleasant and 
cordial, and his death is a great shock. But we are 
sure that he was ripe for Heaven, and has ere this 
heard 'the well done' from the lips of his Divine 
Master." . 

Saturday, 9 a. m. 
11 I had occasion to go through the study into the 
chapel Sunday week for papers ; along the walk by 
the grape vine, up the steps and all, how it reminded 
me of him. And I thought how much more I will 
recall his love and teachings. How blessed it must 
be for him up there, and how pleasant to know, if we 
are faithfully doing the work He has for us to do here 
and now, that we can enjoy something of the same joy 
and peace and rest." 

July 17, 1889. 
" The news came to us with a shock, for we hoped 
that your beloved husband, even though he might be 
a sufferer, would be spared for many years to come. 
The sad days and weeks and months and years that 
are before you ! Each year adding to your sense of 
loneliness and desolation ! But I'm sure that in all 
your sorrow 7 you are able to give thanks for the life 
you have shared, for all God helped him do for his 
church and the world ; and now he has gone to know 
the fulness of God's love. I trust he was spared great 
pain in the last hours, and that he was able to give 
you a loving parting word. But however that may 



322 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

be, we know that now and henceforth pain and sorrow 
will no more come to him, and no doubt every earthly 
grief is forgotten save as God's appointed best way to 
bring him home to glory. How he loved to dwell 
on the ' coming glory ;' and now he has entered in, has 
adored the Lord that bought him and redeemed him 
— has seen the l king in His beauty ' and is glorified in 
his presence — perhaps has seen the loved ones of earth 
who were dear to him, and with them gives praise and 
honor and glory to Him who sits on the great white 
throne. 

u We cannot comprehend the tender loving- kindness 
of our God — how He brings His children into His 
presence without alarms or apprehensions ' like as a 
Father.' He removes all fear and his loved ones 
come into His house in peace. How much dear Dr. 
Eaton knows, already knows, of the wisdom of God ; 
what wonders have been revealed to him ! I need 
not say how much we shall miss your beloved hus- 
band. You know how much Mr. D. loved him; how 
the two families had known and loved each other be- 
fore Dr. Eaton was born. We must think this friend- 
ship renewed in Heaven. I had looked forward to his 
and your coming to our new home, if we have one, as 
one of our special blessings ; and now I know I shall 
never see his face again on earth. Our friends are 
going fast, and if we are spared many years we shall 
stand alone to look upon the graves of those we love. 
How his nieces will miss him ! He was always 
thoughtful and kind, parental in his care. I want to 
say much more of my appreciation of his Christian 



Letters of Sympathy. 323 

character; but I know the fulness of your sorrow, 
and words even of sympathy cannot comfort you. 
May God, his God, comfort and sustain you, and up- 
hold you, and strengthen you for every duty He may 
set before you, and give you the peace and quietness 
of heart, given only to His beloved ones." 

July 25th, 1889. 
u I admired Dr. Eaton's character as did every one 
who knew him. No one stood higher in the estima- 
tion of his brethren as a minister of stainless charac- 
ter, of loving disposition, of genial temper, of high 
ability, supreme consecration, devoted zeal and exten- 
ded influence. In every sphere where he moved he 
left the impression that he was a man of superior 
powers, and that all which he had possessed had been 
devoted lovingly and entirely to his Maker and fellow 
man. The church can ill afford to lose such men, and 
when they are gone, the question springs inevitably to 
our thought, where shall we find those who can fill the 
vacant place ? " 

July 26th, 1889. 
" He was one of God's elect ones, so good, and pure, 
and true, and faithful, what a pleasure it was to meet 
him! For twenty- eight years I have known him. 
Scarcely a year has passed since 1861, that we have 
not taken each other by the hand. Now we shall 
never meet again, till we strike hands in the heavenly 
Canaan. Earth will be poorer without him, but 
heaven will be richer." 



3*4 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

July 25th, 1889. 
" I feel as if I had lost a very dear friend, one in 
whose friendship I have found peculiar delight through 
all my ministry. One of the very first pulpits in 
which I was invited to preach after I was licensed — 
twenty-one years ago— was that of dear Dr. Eaton's in 
Franklin ; and the last time I preached in Franklin 
(last October), he sat in the pulpit with me. And all 
along through these twenty-one years I have always 
regarded him as one of the truest and noblest and best 
of friends — whom it was an honor to know. And 
now he has gone from us, gone to walk the golden 
streets of the heavenly city. 

( Rest, Spirit free, 
In the green pastures of the heavenly shore. 
Where sin and sorrow shall molest no more ; 
With all the flock by the Good Shepherd fed, 
Beside the stream of life eternal led : 
Forever with thy God and Saviour blest- 
Best, sweetly rest.' " 

July 26th, 1889. 
" I prized his friendship more than I can tell you. 
There was a glow about it that exists only now and 
then in life's friendships. Ever since the often talked 
of excursion on Mt. Lebanon, he has seemed near to 
me. I shall miss his good, warm-hearted letters. 
c My missionary child ' was his frequent name for me, 
which did my heart good. I am so glad we had that 
visit from him, which was so very pleasant. I re- 
member his Monday sermon. Each successive sermon 
was better than the last, and on Monday forenoon he 
referred so touchingly to the Garden of Gethsemane. 
It did us all good. • Our people remember him very 
pleasantly," 



Letters of Sympathy. 325 

November 14th, 1889. 
"To me Dr. Eaton is simply perfect, and his beau- 
tiful life a constant expression of sweetness, and light, 
and strength. The world's mists never touched him, 
and he showed how Christ-like man could be. I 
know I will always be better and happier for having 
known him. That he has gone so far away we cannot 
hear him speak, is a great grief to me, yet a selfish 
one, when I think for him surely ' sudden death was 
sudden glory. \ No one helped me bear my brother's 
death as Dr. Eaton did. Over and over his words 
come to me, bearing with them strength." 

July 21st, 1889. 
"Friday night the sad news came to me, and it 
seems as if I can think of nothing else but the dear 
friend and uncle we have lost. Uncle Mills was so 
good and generous, so quiet and unassuming in his 
generous goodness. He could not have been kinder 
to me if he had been my father. Indeed, he seemed 
to take a fatherly interest in his brother's children. 
His counsel and practical sympathy have been my best 
help in the greatest concerns of my life. I feel that 
to him and to you I owe much of the present satisfac- 
tion and enjoyment I have in life. For these reasons, 
and because of his unaffected goodness and truest gen- 
tlemanliness, I feel for him a love and regard une- 
qualed outside of our own immediate family. Many 
hearts will think of him now with grateful praise 
when they hear the heavenly world has received him." 



J 



26 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



July 28th, 1889. 

"His was a well spent life, and it will have its in- 
fluence on us as long as we live. How we shall all 
miss Uncle's visits; and when any great sorrow fell 
upon us how naturally we looked to him for sympathy 
and comfort." 

July 24th, 1889. 

" The world feels lonelier to me now to know that 
he has gone, a true friend. Would the world had 
more such men. What a good, dear, noble man be 
was. His will be a crown of rejoicing indeed. Tears, 
sad tears, will flow for our venerated friend. I thank 
God for his friendship. Such men assure us of man's 
higher, holier destiny. We both loved him." 

July 25th, 1889. 
"The work of a true and noble life was finished, 
but the influences will live on and on, making others 
happier and better that he once lived. He was ripe 
and ready for the advance steps into a holier life 
where no sickness, pain, or separation can come." 

July 20th, 1889. 

" What a grand good man earth has lost and Heaven 
has gained. I thank our common Master that your 
dear one preached so many years, wrote the life of that 
seraphic man Dr. Dickson, and did so much for our 
Alma Mater." 

July 19th, 1889. 

"There is no one out of our little family circle that 
I shall miss so much, no one who seemed so much like 
my own relative." 



Letters of Sympathy. 327 

July 23d, 1889. 

"It was under the sound of his voice and the influ- 
ence of the word preached by him that I became a 
subject of saving grace, for which I give daily thanks 
to my Heavenly Father. Dr. Eaton has entered into 
a rich reward, into the home he has so many times and 
so beautifully portrayed." 

September 22d, 1889. 

"He did his life work well, honored the Christian 
name by a blameless life and a faithful discharge of 
duty, and has now gone to exchange the cross for the 
crown. Such men honor humanity, and the darken- 
ing of death to them is just the breaking of the im- 
mediate morning." 

July 18th, 1889. 

"I feel that I have lost a friend whose place can 
never be filled. It seems but yesterday since his dear 
hand was laid upon the heads of my boys in baptism ; 
and then that precious visit made me by you both will 
never cease to be remembered as a heavenly time to 
me. The last time I heard his loving voice in church 
he preached from this beautiful text: 'In my Fath- 
er's house are many mansions'; and how he too has 
gone to be one in those many mansions. My dear 
friend, comfort yourself by thinking how ready he 
was for that home. If there ever was a saint prepared 
to sit at the Father's right hand, your loved one is 
there." 



328 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

FROM CHAUTAUQUA FRIENDS. 

July 21st, 1889. 
" I want to mingle my sympathies with the many, 
many friends who will hasten to give you assurances 
of their appreciation and love for your honored hus- 
band. This beautiful, quiet Sabbath afternoon, my 
heart goes out to you as you sit in the presence of your 
great but holy grief. I believe 'Our Father 'does 
give you some of the calm, sweet peace that is now 
the heritage of your beloved forever. A letter from a 
member of our Class brought me the intelligence, sad 
to me, but so joyous to our dear Dr. Eaton. How 
we shall miss him, how I shall miss him ! I have his 
letter which we shall all prize, now that he has gone 
from us. He was such a help to me in my place. His 
opening prayer was always an inspiration at our meet- 
ings. I only want to tell you I mourn with you. I 
know not how to offer words of consolation. All I 
can do is to sit down with you in silence, asking the 
Lord to speak to you in sweetest words of hope, to 
soothe and comfort you in this hour of trial. A prec- 
ious legacy is yours in the memory of such a husband. 
This cannot be taken from you, and by it your life is 
enriched until the blessed reunion. " 

July 21st, 1889. 
" Dr. Eaton's life and work have been identified 
with us at Chautauqua, and he was our Dr. Eaton ; 
and never was a member of the Class more beloved by 
all denominations than our Dr. Eaton. He has gone 
from all sublunary care ; his sufferings are over and 
' he was not, for God took him.' " 



Letters of Sympathy. 329 



July 23d, 1889. 

" Just one week to-day some one came and said, 
1 Dr. Eaton is dead.' We cannot describe the sorrow 
of our hearts, and the great sense of bereavement 
which fell upon us. We said, i what shall we do here 
at Chautauqua without him V In every place we miss 
and shall continue to miss him. He seemed to uphold 
so many things, and to assist and originate in so many 

directions 'Twas a very thin veil that 

separated your husband from the better country. It 
was only the last look on the face of his beloved wife 
— only closing the eyes one moment on earthly scenes, 
and then the next moment opening them to find him- 
self with his Savior and Lord 

Perhaps you will read 'The Change of Habitation,' 
by Rev. S. T. Spear, in the Independent. His wife 
died very suddenly, as you may remember, expiring 
in his arms. Ever since he has been writing articles 
that show he lives as near to Heaven as possible, and 
seems to be following the dear one in his thoughts 
and meditations. Dear Sister, I know you are fully 
persuaded of the loving-kindness of our Lord, and do 
not need I should say more." 

July 20th, 1889. 

"I have thought of you and Dr. Eaton as being at 
your cottage at the Lake, and his form with the Scotch 
cap and cheery face beneath it, seated at the left of the 
desk in the Hall of Philosophy, by the great pillar, 
invisible to me now. He is another friend passed 
over into the realms of the immortals. I sorrow with 
you." 



330 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



July 27th, 1889. 
" Allow me with your many Chautauqua friends to 
extend my warm and deep sympathy in your bereave- 
ment, and add my humble testimony of regard to the 
sacred memory of your husband. We miss you both 
wherever we turn — but nowhere more than in the 
hallowed vesper hour. How beautifully was the 
earthly life rounded — and though we would fain have 
kept him, to learn and profit more by a well spent 
life, 'the Lord hath need of him/ And his work is 
finished to human sight; but his works do follow him. 
'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee/ is one of 
the rock texts that embrace all our years, and one, my 
dear friend, of so many other precious ones you are 
now making your solace. 4 In the shadow of Thy 
wings will I rejoice.' May the God of all comfort 
abide continually with you, is my prayer and sincere 
wish." 

July, 1889. 
"My acquaintance with Dr. Eaton, though brief, 
was of the most genial character, and I had learned 
enough of his good works and unselfish aspirations to 
admire and love him as a Christian gentleman. When 
a good man falls and passes away the whole circle of 
his associates unite with the dearest relatives in a pro- 
found sorrow. The hope, that your dear departed is 
now in that better, fairer world with the Saints and 
Angels and free from care and anxieties of this life, is 
the sweetest consolation that we can entertain." 



Letters of Sympathy. ? ji 

July 18th, 1889. 

" We were deeply touched by the news of the sud- 
den death of the Doctor. We had so recently talked 
with you. When the announcement was made from 
the platform on Tuesday evening, we could realize a 
silent sympathy throughout the whole audience. And 
the first thought that came to me was, 'And he was 
not, for the Lord took him.' " 

July 16th, 1889. 

" Beyond the shadow is the golden sunlight. Its 
glorious halo has touched the brow of your beloved, 
' Jerusalem the golden ' has received the weary pil- 
grim ; and in your lonely way the c Everlasting 
Arms ' will sustain and comfort you, till reunited in 
the heavenly home. ' Follow him to the rest and joy 
and song of the Hereafter/ " 

July 22d, 1889. 

"It was not death, it was a translation. It was a 
quick passage, to be with the Lord forever. Thus did 
Drs. Howard and Jacobus and Swift and Albert 
Barnes pass to glory. They ' walked with God ; and 
they were not, for God took them/ So it was with 
dear brother Eaton. How his brethren and friends 
will miss him ; he was so cheerful and companionable, 
and always ready to serve the church and his Master. 
My wife and I looked forward to the pleasure of meet- 
ing you and himself at Chautauqua as usual this sum- 
mer ; but all this is now changed. Chautauqua will 
not be to us what it has been in the past. The genial 
friend who always greeted us in the cottage on Simp- 
son Avenue will not be there. i Even so, Father, for 
it seemeth good in thy sight/ " 



33 2 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

July 28th, 1889. 
"Dr. Eaton's presence among us all at Chautauqua 
was always so much prized that he will be missed from 
a great many gatherings, but I suppose even more by 
the Pioneers than by any others. I am so glad cir- 
cumstances were such that representatives of our Class 
could be with you in the last sad hours. My own 
memories of Dr. Eaton are especially pleasant. I al- 
ways felt at home with him, and his kindly, cordial 
greeting was one of those which I always expected at 
Chautauqua." 

Chautauqua, N. Y., July 18, '89. 

" This morning on my way to Chautauqua from 
California I read in an Erie paper of your husband's 
death. 

" I would at once go to Franklin, but I have been 
traveling day and night for nearly a week, and am 
very weary. On Memorial Day at Chautauqua I hope 
to say something about the dear, devoted friend and 
brother whose enthusiasm in Chautauqua work for all 
these years has helped me greatly. 

" Though I cannot be with you in person I shall 
be with you in sympathy and prayer, and I shall 
gather the friends of Dr. Eaton to-morrow at the hour 
of the funeral, and in the old Hall of Philosophy offer 
prayer for your comfort and support in this day of 
your sorrow. 

Ever yours, 

J. H. V." 



VI. 

NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

Extracts from a few of the many articles in the pub- 
lic press that the death of Dr. Eaton called forth are 
given below : 

From the Venango Spectator. 

The life work of this faithful servant of God was 
marked through his whole career by an undeviating 
devotion to duty and love for his people. There have 
been more brilliant preachers than he was, but few 
mightier in Scripture ; none more faithful. The affec- 
tion of those to whom he ministered, whose friend 
and counsellor he was in sickness and in health, was 
his through life. And he deserved the love of his 
people, for his love for them knew no change nor 
shadow of turning. 

Aside from his pastoral duties, Dr. Eaton was deep- 
ly interested in the early history of Western Pennsyl- 
vania, and his contributions to the stock of knowledge 
thereof were valuable and entertaining. His fine 
literary taste, his travels and. observations in Palestine, 
over ground made holy by the footsteps of the Saviour, 
and his readiness to help in every enterprise designed 
to make men better and wiser, gave him capacity and 
opportunities that few possess. 

But he is gone, and we shall see his face no more. 
To him Death, however sudden, was but the transi- 
tion to eternal rest in the bosom of his Father and his 



334 S ?. M. Eaton, D. D. 



God. It is well with him, and happy will it be for 
those who still linger here if it can be said of them, 
also, ' It is well/ " 

From the Presbyterian Banner , Pittsburgh. 
Dr. Eaton was a man of fine appearance, ordinarily 
somewhat grave, but of pleasing manners. He was 
an excellent scholar, a well read theologian, an ear- 
nest and instructive preacher, and a faithful pastor. 
His writings were marked with grace and a taste 
almost fastidious. He kept himself thoroughly abreast 
of the news of the world and the Church, and was a 
most delightful conversationalist. Of men and popu- 
lar movements he was a discriminating student, care- 
fully forming his opinions and expressing them clearly 
and forcibly when the occasion demanded it. Of pre- 
tense and sham, wherever manifested, he had a strong 
dislike. As a Christian he was humble, self- watchful, 
prayerful and ever seeking nearness to God. To kin- 
dred and friends he was stronly attached. 

From the Oil City Derrick. 

CLOSE OF A BEAUTIFUL LIFE. 

The news of the sudden death of S. J. M. Eaton, 
D. D., at Franklin, has caused deep sorrow among his 
hosts of friends. Dr. Eaton was probably the most 
prominent and well known Presbyterian minister in 
Erie Presbytery, the greater portion of his life work 
having been spent in this field of labor. His sudden 
death, therefore, will not only be keenly felt at his 
immediate home, and in this city where he had en- 



Notices of the Press. 335 



deared himself to all, but in the entire Western 
portion of Pennsylvania, where his noble characteris- 
tics of true Christian mauliness were well known to 
the membership of the Presbyterian Church. 

After speaking of his published works and their 
great value, the writer says : The last remarkable 
public effort of the Doctor was at the meeting of the 
Presbytery of Erie at Bradford, in April, 1888, when 
he spoke upon " A Century of Presbyterianism in 
Northwestern Pennsylvania." The address was one 
of great power and brilliancy. It teemed with his- 
toric information and sparkled with rhetoric and wit, 
and the large audience who listened to it were captivated 
by the rare eloquence which it displayed. He was an 
almost constant contributor to religious newspapers 
and magazines of history. The Doctor's knowledge 
of the early history of this region was perhaps more 
extensive and accurate than that possessed by any 
other man, and without doubt the vast fund of infor- 
mation and notes which he has gathered will be of 
great use to others in the future. 

If the attempt were made to characterize Dr. Eaton 
by any single word, there is perhaps no word more 
nearly approaching correctness than " large-hearted," 
for he was instinctively and essentially a large-hearted 
man. Holding with unflinching loyalty to the faith of 
his Fathers, a firm uncompromising Calvinist and 
Presbyterian, he yet gave room in his heart to those 
whose views were different from his own. Conserva- 
tive in his habit of thought and not disposed to 
sympathize with the spirit of change, he yet placed no 



33& S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 



barrier in the way of progress ; and while his conscience 
might not admit of his helping, his charity never 
allowed him to hinder anything progressive that had 
not proved itself of the truth. As the oldest active 
member of Erie Presbytery, Dr. Eaton's large- heart- 
edness made him much beloved of its members. His 
manner was always humble, helpful and gentle. His 
charitable judgment, his genial bearing, his youthful 
spirit, tempered with the grace of well spent years, 
made him always accessible, ever ready and unceasingly 
kind to younger men ; and those who were meeting the 
trials and bearing the burdens of new and difficult ex- 
perience found in him a willing friend, a sympathizing 
helper. Next to his large- heartedness, Dr. Eaton's 
manhood was marked by an unusual purity. It col- 
ored or rather clarified his motives, his speech and his 
judgment of others. His very presence and acquaint- 
ance gave the atmosphere of cleanness to speech, 
thought and behavior. His thoughts were in the higher 
reaches of life's atmosphere. His words were like 
sunbeams that came through the upper air; and though 
all free from any show of cant or mere religionism, 
still wore the gleam of purity and righteousness. 

All the while there was no right, honest human joy 
in which he did not fully share, and no human glad- 
ness into which he did not enter with the hearty 
sympathy of true manhood. 

From the Evening News, Franklin. 
Of the work of Dr. Eaton here in the ministry, ex- 
tending over a period of more than thirty- three years, 
it is not necessary to speak in detail. The record of 



Notices of the Press, Jjy 



that work is conspicuous, known and read by all. 
Interwoven with the life and progress of this people, 
written in the hearts of so many, shedding blessed in- 
fluences in so many lives, bearing the peaceable fruits 
of righteousness in so wide a field, the record of that 
work is Dr. Eaton's best and most enduring monu- 
ment. 

Dr. Eaton's ministry here was prosperous. From 
year to year the church and Sunday School grew in 
numbers and interest throughout his long pastorate. 
It was his privilege and his joy to see that charge 
increase and prosper under his ministrations, and 
when he relinquished his pastoral office, the congrega- 
tion which was so small at the outset of his work had 
grown to be among the largest and most influential in 
this part of the State. The little Sunday School had 
become a small army, and the plain little church edi- 
fice had given place to the present beautiful structure, 
dedicated to the worship of God in 1869. Dr. Eaton's 
name is rightly inscribed on the corner stone of that 
building. Some may see in that edifice a monument 
of his work ; but his more lasting monument, as has 
been said, is that erected in the heart of every member 
of his church, his former congregation, and the com- 
munity in which he lived. 

There came a time when it seemed to Dr. Eaton 
best that the pastoral relation which had existed for 
more than a third of a century should be severed. 
At the close of a sermon in December, 1881, he ten- 
dered his resignation. A large portion of the congre- 
gation sought to influence him into reconsidering the 



338 S. y. M. Eaton, D. D. 

step, but Dr. Eaton, being a man who always clearly 
and fully made up his mind, insisted upon his action 
as final, and the pulpit was consequently declared va- 
cant. 

It is at this point that there unfolds one of the 
beautiful pages in Dr. Eaton's history. His subse- 
quent career illustrates the grand qualities of his 
nature, his unswerving devotion to the duties of his 
calling, and reflects high honor upon him. After he 
had stepped down from the pulpit which he had so 
ably filled, the scene of his life's arduous labors and 
his successes, there was no change in his noble Chris- 
tian bearing, in his love and solicitude for his people, 
in his kindness, his courtesy, his friendship, his active 
interest in the welfare of all who came within the 
range of his helpful sympathies. He did not yield to 
the temptation and opportunity to fold his hands and 
rest. Although a veteran soldier of the cross, he felt 
that he was enlisted for life. For him, there was no 
discharge in that warfare. For him, also, membership 
in the army meant active service at the front, sword 
and shield in hand. So he went right on with the 
work before him, constantly engaged in writing, 
preaching at one place and another, and devoting him- 
self in every way to the advancement of Christ's 
cause and kingdom. 

When we view him as a pastor, it is impossible for 
one who has long known him to speak of Dr. Eaton 
without esteem and deep affection. He made it a point 
to know all with whom his duties, whether religious 
or social, brought him in contact. He looked after 



Notices of the Press. 339 

and interested himself in all. But especially in the 
abode of suffering or ailliction was his presence felt. 
In how many a home to-day do they remember how 
he came in their time of trial ; how he sat at the bed- 
side of the sick ; how he ministered to the dying ; 
how he comforted the bereaved ; how he poured out 
his soul in strong prayer in the final rites of the dead. 
He was indeed a help and a comforter in affliction. His 
tender hand not only soothed the sufferer, but it gave 
substantial help in a thousand ways and places of 
which the world will never know. 

It was natural that such a pastor should retain the 
love, esteem and confidence of his people to the last. 
Very many of his flock never felt any change in their 
mutual relations. How could they, when it may be 
said with literal truth that in his long pastorate here 
Dr. Eaton had baptized, married and buried a genera- 
tion ? 

Dr. Eaton also retained the friendship of the com- 
munity at large. His was a character that command- 
ed general respect and confidence. His acquaintances 
all recognized his unswerving integrity, his high and 
chivalric sense of honor, his knowledge, his fidelity to 
duty, his purity of life. While he had some of the 
stern spirit of the Puritan in religion, he had also the 
noble faculty of friendship, and by this he was bound 
to his associates through all the years as with hooks of 
steel. 

Dr. Eaton's indefatigable industry, his persistent 
activity and capacity for labor, were striking charac- 
teristics, and were at once an example for imitation and 



340 S J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

a rebuke to the self indulgent. He was never idle a 
moment. He seemed ever mindful of the injunction 
to work while it is called to day, ere the night cometh 
wherein no man can work. The fact that much of his 
study and his labor in pulpit and lecture room were 
done while under the discouragements of impaired 
health, enhances the tribute of praise due him on this 
score. 

Through these last years, in which he was called 
to pass-- through much bodily suffering, Dr. Eaton kept 
on with his work. Even up to the last few days he 
was engaged in assisting in the compilation of a new 
history of Venango county, and the pen has fallen 
from his fingers with the task unfinished. There is 
none left who is as competent as he to complete the 
interrupted undertaking. 

He was a charming man in society, abounding in 
the " affluence of discursive talk." In his home he 
was the soul of hospitality. There he was fully as- 
sisted by his wife. To all his virtues, let us add the 
absolute purity of his life and conversation, Sir 
Galahad was not more clean in his life, nor could a 
saint be purer in speech, thought and action. More- 
over, he never gave way to bursts of temper, nor 
wounded the feelings of a fellow man with bitter 
words. 

Long shall we remember the character and the per- 
son who has passed from among us — that strikingly 
fine presence, the large expressive eyes, the classically 
regular features, the broad thoughtful brow, with the 
abundant locks thrown back from it, the gentle man- 



Notices of t lie Press. 341 



ners, the cordial greeting, the kind words. But yes- 
terday he walked and wrought and suffered among us. 
To day he feels upon his brow u the breath of the eter- 
nal morning. " He has fought a good fight, he has fin- 
ished his course, he has kept the faith. Not a broken 
shaft, but a pyramid completed, should mark his rest- 
ing place. Crown him with the victor's chaplet. 
Strew his pall and his grave with the flowers he loved 
so well, types of the immortal amaranth and asphodel 
and li pure lilies of eternal peace " which bloom by the 
river which makes glad the city of God. 

From the Daily News, Belief onte, Penn'a. 

The Rev. S. J. M. Eaton, the Presbyterian divine 
and distinguished historian and literary student, who 
died quite recently at his home in Franklin, Pa., is 
well remembered by a number of our prominent citi- 
zens, and by whom he was held in high esteem. 

He was a visitor here when the synod of the 
Presbyterian church met in our town in 1885, of 
which body he was a member. On his return home 
he wrote a graceful and appropriate letter to the gen- 
tleman with whom he sojourned during that visit, 
from which we are permitted to make the following 
extract : 

"How beautiful that Bald Eagle Valley was as we 
entered it going to Bellefonte, and as we left it ! 
What a mass of color! What elegant hues! What 
charming variety mingled with evergreens on the 
mountain side ! 



342 S. J. M. Eaton, D. D. 

"But how short-lived are all earth's beautiful 
things! The flaming banners of scarlet and gold that 
hung upon the mountain's side two weeks ago, are 
to-day sere and brown, borne on the wings of the 
wind, or floated away on the bosom of the stream. 
But they are not lost, those golden and scarlet leaves. 
They will appear again in due season, when the slum- 
ber of the winter is over, wrought by the cunning 
chemistry of nature in soil and atmosphere into new 
leaves, green as though reflecting the emerald bow in 
apocalyptic vision. 

u Thus all beautiful things on earth fade and die. 
But God's beautiful things will live again — live in 
immortal beauty. When the heavens shall be no 
more, may you and 1 and all we love have our home 
in the beautiful City of God, to go out no more." 

From the Courant. 

Dr. Eaton was a man of more than ordinary abili- 
ty and learning, not alone in matters pertaining to his 
profession ; but on most literary subjects. He was the 
author of several historical works and was retained as 
one of the instructors at Chautauqua from year to 
year. No minister ever enjoyed more of the esteem 
and love of his congregation than Dr. Eaton, which is 
attested by a continuous pastorate of a third of a cen- 
tury. 

It was the good fortune of the editor of the Cour- 
ant to sit for many years under his preaching, and to 
enjoy a warm and close personal intimacy with him. 
It is a pleasure to be able to say of him, now that he 



Notices of the Press. 343 



is gone, that a purer man in heart and conduct, a 
truer, more disinterested friend, a more conscientious 
Christian, never breathed. He was a manly man in 
everything the words imply. Frank, confiding as an 
infant, and, as far as possible for humanity, free from 
guile. To know him intimately was to love him in- 
timately. His ability in his chosen profession was a 
thing to admire. His zeal and earnestness for the 
cause, something to commend. His manliness in 
every position in life, his purity of heart and purpose, 
a thing to love. In saying this the writer only wishes 
the language had words strong enough to express what 
he fails to say. 

In all that goes to make a man, Rev. Dr. Samuel J. 
M. Eaton was a model. A pure and consistent Chris- 
tian, a good citizen, a warm, devoted and constant 
friend. The man does not breathe who can truthfully 
say Dr. Eaton ever wronged him in deed, word or 
thought. 

" He wadna wrang the vera deil." 

The world has plenty of use for such men, and 
come when it will their departure from earth is a ca- 
lamity to the rest of us. 



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